Wake Up Winnipeg - Episode 76

Wake Up Winnipeg - Episode 76

Hosted Live/Produced/Recorded by: Andru Valpy, Natty Somers

Air Date: 05/11/2011 6:00 PM on UMFM 101.5 FM
Podcast Download Location: iTunes.
Web: http://wakeupwinnipeg.com/
Twitter: http://twitter.com/wakeupwinnipeg 

Become a FaceBook Fan: http://facebook.com/wakeupwinnipeg
Rebroadcast: 5/18/2011 on CJUM 101.5 UMFM - 6:30 AM

CJOB - Keith McCullough

We started this weeks episode delivering the latest developments in the 2011 spring flooding situation that is occurring across the province.

The Provence of Manitoba officially declared a provincial wide state of emergency on Monday in an effort to help make us of resources available to them during the 2011 Flood Season.

Shortly after 4:00 pm on Monday evening Manitoba Premier Greg Sellenger and provincial officials declared the state of emergency to deal with the imminent threat of flooding along the Assiniboine River in the cities of Brandon and Portage la Prairie and the rural municipalities of Woodlands, Rosser, St. Francois Xavier, Headingley, Cartier, Macdonald and Grey.

Fred Greenslade - Reuters

This comes as the Assiniboine river water levels on at the First Street bridge in Brandon climbed to 1,182.5 ft while continuing to flow down street at a rate of 42,500 cfs.

Flows on the Assiniboine River will continue to increase with recent and forecast rain, as much as 20 to 40 millimeters was expected to fallen in Southern Manitoba as of yesterday and today, with some areas of Western Manitoba seeing as much as 70 mm of rain.

Manitoba government has called in Canadian Forces from Joint Task Force West, under Canada Command, are arriving to assist the government in its operation to manage flood-fighting efforts along the Assiniboine River.

Bruce Bumstead - Brandon Sun

On Sunday evening through Monday Morning the City of Brandon requested a precautionary evacuation of 900 house holds in the lower lying areas surrounding the city, while closing down First Street due to buckling pavement.

Earlier this week residents were working to raise flood dikes by an additional two feet to accommodate high flows on the Assiniboine River.

The additional water levels were caused by recent rain storms and inaccurate water level estimates caused by at least one broken gauge that had been underestimating the flow of water by about 2,500 cubic feet per second.

In the early hours of Tuesday, Some 150 residences in the RM's were awaken by RCMP and Police officials who had told the residents It was time to go.

On Tuesday, the province announced that a controlled release of 2,000 to 6,000 cfs is necessary.

In a recent interview with CBC News, Premier Greg Sellenger said he was working closely with the local municipalities and the emergency operation committee to we that they get as much protection as possible by any additional water.

Rod Nickel - Reuters

Some 150 homes are expected to be affected by a controlled flood release occurring near the Hoop and Holler Bend which was planned by the province and is expected to occur on Thursday morning before noon.

Prime Minster Stephen Harper toured the affected areas with Premier Sellenger on Wednesday morning before meeting with officials to be briefed on the situation.

The controlled release will be preformed to reduce the risk and severity of an uncontrolled breach of the dikes. This controlled release could potentially save 850 homes that would have otherwise been affected by a uncontrolled breach.

Premier Greg Sellenger has stated that  in the event of additional damage, there will be a special compensation program.

AP Photo/The Canadian Press, John Woods

Efforts to protect properties that would be affected by the controlled release and the potential spillover from the Portage Diversion are continuing and progressing well with the assistance of Canadian Forces soldiers and reservists.

Areas that have a significant risk of flooding from a possible uncontrolled break are identified on maps prepared by Manitoba Water Stewardship and can be found at gov.mb.ca

For more information about the 2011 Flood situation, and the provincial state of emergency, listeners are encouraged to visit www.manitoba.ca/flooding.


After filling our listeners in to the latest in flood news, we moved on to the lighter side of things as Natty brought us her weekly concert announcements. We'd like to point out that the Farewell to Freeway show that we had mentioned on this weeks episode actually falls on Sunday and not the Monday as we mistakenly announced on air. 

(For a full line up of events happening around town, please feel free to download this episode in iTunes).


We went back into the news room to discuss some local news happenings. Some of the stories we discussed this weeks seem to have revolved about transportation. . .

City of Winnipeg

Winnipeg commuters woke up to a surprise this week while crossing the Osborne Bridge which is currently under construction.

Some Winnipeg Cyclists were issued fines for $110.00 by members of the Winnipeg Police Service for riding their bikes across the sidewalk along Osborne Street North.

City of Winnipeg Website

Presently a pedestrian path runs underneath the bridges north side to connect to the legislature grounds or the Assiniboine Avenue Bikeway, but due to high water levels along the flooding Assiniboine River, that path has been made virtually inaccessible by pedestrians and cyclists leaving them to find their own alternatives.

Director Mike Cohoe of the non profit group "Bike to the Future" estimates about 1,500 cyclists travel through the bridge area on a daily basis.

He advises that the best way to not get ticketed is for cyclists is to walk their bikes across the bridge.

The non-profit group "Bike to the Future" is expecting to publicize alternative routes for cyclists during the construction period soon.

Winnipeg Police service have said that officers want to make sure roadways and paved sidewalks are safe during this time of year where there is an increase of pedestrians are out and about.
 

CAA Manitoba announced it's expanding it's services this week to help cover cyclists in the event that their bikes break down.

The CAA Program called Bike Assist will allow any CAA member to use any of their four annual roadside service calls for assistance in the event that their bikes break down. The program will allow members to be transported home, or be taken to a bike repair shop of their choice.

More information about this program is available on the CAA Manitoba website.


MPI Customers received good news this week as the crown insurance company announced that rebate cheques for the 2009-2010 Autopac season have been sent out by mail on Tuesday morning.

The Public Utilities Board earlier this year ordered Manitoba Public Insurance to rebate of 45 percent of their premiums to over 5,000 Autopac ratepayers.

The rebates are for basic Autopac on every vehicle that was registered during the 2009-2010 year.  Brian Smiley, MPI Spokesperson said the average rebate will be around $420.00.

He also noted that the smallest cheque was for $2.00 while the largest check issued totaled $1.7 million dollars for a fleet customer.

MPI Is advising those drivers who do not receive their cheques by June 7 to contact MPI's call centre at 985-7000.

Moving on in this weeks show, Natty and I re-introduced you to The Lonely Island's new track "Jack Sparrow" which features an appearance by the legendary Michael Bolton. The video was released as a SNL Digital Short last weekend.

We decided to play the new song with it's club worthy beats, and bizarre moments with Michael Bolton on this weeks show:






We also opened our listener lines by means of twitter and facebook to get your opinions on the song. 

And finally on this weeks show, we left with the news that NHL Fans in Winnipeg had been discussing since December of last year.

In what turned out to be a historic moment for sports fans in the City of Glendale, members of Council voted 5-2 in favor of keeping the Phoenix Coyotes in Glendale for a period of one year as they continue to support what Mayor Elaine Scruggs called "A city assist". 

Though the City (and presumably their tax payers) has already spent $25m dollars in management and resource fee's for last years NHL Season, last nights vote is a extension and guarantee that the Phoenix Coyotes will remain in Glendale for at least another year.

Unknown is what will happen to the purchase off that True North Sports and Entertainment had placed on the team in late 2010, or if there is any interest into putting their funding into another NHL Team.

Last nights news has some NHL Winnipeg fans upset, wondering what comes out of the wood works next.


Stay tuned to Wake Up Winnipeg as we continue to watch this story closely.

We will see you next week with another fun episode, but in the mean time, you can always visit us at http://wakeupwinnipeg.com for past episodes and interviews, and more.

Until then,

-Av