The Manitoba government says it’s ready to start construction on the Lake St. Martin outlet channel as early as this fall, as long as environmental regulators and Indigenous partners give their approval.

Infrastructure Minister Ron Schuler gave an update on the project Wednesday, marking the 10-year anniversary of the devastating 2011 flood that forced the entire Lake St. Martin First Nation community, in Manitoba’s Interlake, to relocate. Flooding that year caused $2.1 billion in damages.

While the 2011 flood and another in 2014 highlighted the need for better infrastructure, they were not isolated events, Schuler said.

“In the last two years, Manitoba has experienced four record high-water events and we can expect further such events, resulting in more frequent and larger flood events in the future,” he said at a news conference.

In the spring of 2011, 13 waterways across the province flooded. By mid-May, areas around Lake Manitoba were seeing overland flooding. 

There were close to 7,000 evacuees in Manitoba at the height of flooding. Lake St. Martin First Nation had to be entirely relocated and rebuilt, with evacuees finally returning home only in the last few years.

The province has attempted to alleviate future flooding by cutting two new outlet channels that would divert water from  Lake Manitoba through Lake St. Martin and into Lake Winnipeg, but regulatory hurdles have delayed the project for years.

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