WINNIPEG -- The Assiniboine and Red rivers were cresting in Winnipeg on Wednesday, but the province's flood fortifications turned it into a ho-hum event.
The high-water mark on the Red at James Avenue was 19.56 feet -- down from the ice-induced crest of 20.79 feet on April 7.
Emergency Measures Minister Steve Ashton said the Red River Floodway, Portage Diversion and Shellmouth Dam, among other measures, drained the drama from a flood that has brought more water Winnipeg's way than in 1950. That year, the city was 48 hours away from a general evacuation, and 10,000 Red River valley homes were destroyed.
As river levels in the city slowly decline, provincial flood experts will shift their focus to rising lake levels and the possibility of massive ice pileups along the shores of Lake Winnipeg and Lake Manitoba.
Ashton and Eric Robinson, the province's aboriginal and northern affairs minister, will travel to Lake St. Martin on Friday to meet with people from First Nations in the area and assess the flood risk first-hand.
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Lake St. Martin and Lake Manitoba levels are expected to be the highest since the water bodies were regulated in 1961. The province has warned the federal government that dikes in communities around Lake St. Martin may have to be raised.
"We're looking at water levels that will set a record during the regulation period," senior Manitoba flood fighter Steve Topping said Wednesday.
Lake St. Martin First Nation, Little Saskatchewan First Nation and Pinaymootang (Fairford) First Nation are the communities affected.
Forecasters have estimated that water levels will peak on Lake St. Martin around July 1. On Lake Manitoba, levels are supposed to peak around June 4.
Operation of the Portage Diversion is not causing Lake Manitoba to be higher than it otherwise would, provincial officials said Wednesday. The ditch diverts Assiniboine River water near Portage la Prairie to the lake.
Lake Manitoba's water level is a foot below what it would be without any provincial water controls in place, officials said. However, they allowed that Lake St. Martin is higher than it would be without lake regulation.
Meanwhile, flooding in the last couple of days has damaged the hospital, library and one home in the town of Eriksdale, the province said.
Water levels increased significantly Tuesday on streams in the Dauphin Lake Basin, with the Valley River rising more than three feet. It's anticipated that Dauphin Lake will be near flood stage over the next few days.
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Winnipeg Free Press stories appear in the Herald by special arrangement.
