FOG BLOG CANADA NEWS LOG: SEAWALL RIPPED APART BY STORM , PARTS OF GIMLI MB INUNDATED BY FLOOD WATER

Lake Winnipeg storm rips apart seawall protecting Gimli-area residential neighbourhood Willow Island juts into the lake southeast of Gimli Part of the seawall protecting cottages and homes at Willow Island, south of Gimli, was smashed apart by high waves during a storm on Tuesday. Lake Winnipeg is almost a foot above the top of its recommended operating range and is forecast to rise another foot before it crests in mid-July. The powerful storm that moved across southern Manitoba earlier this week destroyed part of a seawall that protects a residential area near Gimli from high water on Lake Winnipeg.

Entire sections of the wooden seawall on the lakefront side of Willow Island were ripped apart by wave action on Tuesday, when strong north winds drove the water level in Lake Winnipeg's southern basin up by roughly two feet.

"It was brutal. There was so much waves and wind," said Carol McDonell, who was home alone on Willow Island when the storm whipped up heavy waves. They took down several lakefront trees on the property and scraped away more than a metre of shoreline that was not protected by a seawall.

McDonell said she also saw an entire deck from another home float past after waves unmoored it from the shore of Willow Island, which juts into Lake Winnipeg southeast of Gimli.

"I was trying to keep my dog calm. I was trying to not panic, and I was sitting here watching it. Never again," she said.