18 Manitoba municipalities under flood-related states of emergency

As the flood forecast worsens south of the border, more Manitoba municipalities have called local states of emergency following a wet weekend.

As of Monday, 18 municipalities have issued local states of emergency in response to local flooding and infrastructure failure, according to the provincial government.

Four days prior, just six communities had declared states of emergency.

The Interlakerural municipality of St. Laurent is one of the most recent communities to join the list.

Reeve Cheryl Smith says the portion of the municipality east of Highway 6 is taking the biggest hit, with numerous roads being closed over the weekend.

"With the overland flooding,we do worry about families and farms and businesses that are on that side of of the highway. We are doing everything possible," she said.

"The public works employees, they are out there, they're steaming culverts. We have some contractors that were hired earlier on because of the significant snowfall we got. We areopening up the ditches as a preemptive strike."

The weekend brought heavy rainfall throughout the province, including an average of40 to 50 millimetres in the Red River Basin, according to the province.

The flood forecast south of the border alsoworsened slightly.

TheU.S. NationalWeather Service predicts the Red River crest at Pembina, N.D.to be 0.61 metres (two feet) below the record set in 1997, and slightly above 2009 levels, according to data released on Monday.

That crest is expected on May 9.

The following communities have issued local states of emergency:

• RM of Cartier.
• RM of Morris.
• RM of Ritchot.
• RM of Fisher.
• RM of Montcalm.
• City of Morden.
• Town of Winnipeg Beach.
• Municipality of Pembina.
• Town of Arborg.
• RM of Armstrong.
• RM of Dufferin.
• Municipality of Bifrost Riverton.
• RM of Headingley.
• RM of Thompson.
• RM of West Interlake.
• RM of St. Laurent.
• RM of Grahamdale.

The province's list doesn't include First Nations. Peguis First Nation, Fisher River Cree Nation and Long Plain First Nationhave also declared states of emergency.