Storm pummels Steinbach, floods animal shelter

A Thursday night storm flooded a Steinbach animal shelter for the second year in a row, following two-months worth of rainfall overflowing roads, basements and ditches.

Graham Pollock, vice president of Steinbach and Area Animal Rescue, woke up to a call at 2:30 A.M. from volunteers that the rescue’s basement flooded. He said the water was nearly 2 metres high.

“The problem is the ditch at the back here,” Pollock said. “It doesn’t carry the water fast enough or take it away when we get a dump of water like we had last night,”

He said the rescue’s 23 cats and kittens were moved and housed with foster families in the community, and people immediately started showing up when they heard about the flooding.

“The basement is write-off in my view. The water was right up to the windows,” Pollock said, adding the flood made the building look like an island.

Much of the rescue’s pet food was ruined in the flood, which fed the pets housed at the rescue and 65 other animals in foster homes, he said.

“We provide all the food and necessities for those animals. We’re going to have to make sure we go out and get some to get our fosters through this,” he said.

Many of the rescue’s kennels, collars and pet toys were in the basement and ruined.

It also was storing items for a garage sale fundraiser slated for Sept 19. Donated furniture and clothing were left floating in knee-deep water inside the basement.

Crawford Luke, an Environment Canada meteorologist, said a volunteer in Steinbach reported 134.6 millimetres of rain during the storm. Steinbach typically only sees 50 to 60 mm in September, he said.

“We typically see this once or twice somewhere in the province, but to have it at any specific locations, it’s quite a rare event and it’s a pretty substantial event,” he said.

Luke said the extra humidity and heat throughout September created a low-level jet, a pocket of air closer to the ground than a typical jet stream. Double the month’s expected rain amount was dumped in four hours, he said.

“That’s the recipe, if you will, for how you get these nighttime thunderstorms with a lot of rain,” he said.

Pollock said there was a similar flood last September, three months after the rescue moved into its new building in June 2024. He said it’s “frustrating” to have another flood again.

In September 2024, Steinbach received about 150 mm of rain over 72 hours.

Pollock said the shelter paid a $25,000 insurance deductible last year and will have to pay it again.

“We’re a not-for-profit. We don’t get grants, it’s all donations and charitable gifts that we survive on,” he said “To cut a check for $25,000 is a huge hit for the rescue.”

Monetary donations to the shelter are preferred because it can’t store food or other pet items, Pollock said.

Throughout the RM of Hanover, flooding washed out roads in six different areas, said public works and operations manager Wes Fehr. He said road repairs will begin on Monday or Tuesday.

The City of Steinbach said its gravity sewer system and facilities were fully functional, and operated at capacity during and until well after the storm. The sewer system returned to normal operating levels Friday morning.

Streets in Niverville and La Broquerie also flooded.

Niverville’s Main Street was under water when resident Joel Stratychuk went to check on a property owned by his parents shortly after 12:30 a.m. Friday.

“It was just a river, basically,” he said.

A few vehicles stalled when drivers tried to go through the floodwater, Stratychuk said.

Steinbach is considering whether the flood will qualify for the province’s Disaster Financial Assistance program, which would offer funding for flood damage that isn’t insured, a City of Steinbach press release said. People should take pictures and record repairs, like invoices for materials, labour or contracted work, it said. People should also contact their insurance provider to see if the damage is eligible, the city said.

The City of Steinbach is asking property owners who experienced property damage as a result of the significant rainstorm to complete a damage report form available on the City’s official
website: https://www.steinbach.ca/report-september-2025-rainfall.

Steinbach Coun. Bill Hiebert hopes the province will grant the funding, because the damage to home owners and business will be expensive and possibly not fully insured. He said the province denied the funding during last September’s heavy rainfall.

“I hope people can get through this with neighborly help,” he said. “Let’s get through this as a community and learn from this to be more prepared.”

He said the rainfall could be sign of climate change, and adds urgency to improving the city’s drainage plan and to expand its capacity. Steinbach announced about $6.6 million in sewer upgrades in February.

– with files from the Winnipeg Free Press