The planned dike breach has been postponed until early Saturday morning, giving those people in the expected area more time to sandbag. Continued work on the portage diversion is allowing for this.
The government is planning a 'controlled' breach, allowing the Assiniboine river to flood severa hundred square kilometers of farmland and smaller communities in an effort to keep an uncontrolled breach from occurring in a much larger area.
The Portage Diversion is a manmade channel cut north from the Assiniboine into Lake Manitoba, working as a pressure valve to channel water directly into the lake rather than allowing it to flow downstream to meet with the Red River in Winnipeg, before ultimately flowing north into Lake Winnipeg.
http://www.gov.mb.ca/asset_library/en/2011flood/potential_controlled_and_uncontrolled.pdf
http://www.gov.mb.ca/flooding/index.html
Aphrael
Oh sweetheart, I don't have to run faster than the bear...