For 51 days, Manitobans fight to hold back the rising waters of the Red and Assiniboine rivers. Norwood, East Kildonan, Fort Garry – one by one the dikes fail, until almost a quarter of Winnipeg is underwater. One hundred thousand people flee the flooded area, in the largest mass evacuation in Canadian history. These CBC radio news reports describe the evacuations of St. Vital on May 10, 1950, and Winnipeg itself the day after. Almost 40,000 people flee Winnipeg on May 11. The river crests three days later at 12.2 feet above channel capacity. By this time, about 5,000 Canadian army, navy, and air force personnel are engaged in the biggest peacetime operation in Canadian history. They man pumps, build and patrol dikes, and evacuate the residents. HMCS Chippawa, Winnipeg’s Naval Reserve, becomes a vital flood-fighting command post. It coordinates the efforts of over 150 ships, including large naval whalers and cutters.Over one million pounds of equipment and 1,200,000 sandbags are airlifted into Winnipeg from as far away as San Francisco. The Red River, usually about 150 metres wide, becomes a lake 65 kilometres wide and 100 kilometres long. The flood damages 10,500 homes in Winnipeg alone. Water damages total $50 million In the early hours of May 6, Manitoba suffered the only fatality of the 1950 flood. The main Fort Garry dike was breached at approximately the same time that the basement pump at 357 Kingston Crescent stopped working. Lawson Ogg went down to fix the pump and drowned when the flood waters rushed through the door of the house, filling the basement. At the peak of the flood of 1950, Mr. and Mrs. Edward Martel of Flin Flon, Man. returned from a trip to the United States to find that the Winnipeg suburb of St. Norbert, where they’d left their children with a relative, was submerged. A CBC producer took the near-hysterical parents to the Winnipeg radio studios to prepare a plea for help. Within fifteen minutes of the broadcast, the studio telephone rang with news. Their children were safely housed at an evacuation centre. Quick Facts: late spring + rain = 108,000 cubic feet of water per second 1/8 of greater Winnipeg was flooded 100,000 people evacuated 10,500 homes flooded links A City Submerged Red River Flood 1950 Red River Rising: Manitoba Floods The Manitoba Flood: No High Ground - with files and reports from the CBC Archives

	. Louis Riel   The Capture of Fort Garry   John A. Macdonald's Response   The Execution of Thomas Scott     Manitoba is Created   Riel in Exile

	1873-1896 Shortly after Confederation, Canada turns its eyes to its western frontier. Faced with a vast territory and a weak pocketbook, Prime Minister John A. Macdonald tries to settle the Prairie without bloodshed. For a while, peace, order prevail and Plains Indians watch their way of life change forever. But frustration grows on the land. Métis leader Louis Riel returns from exile and sparks a bloody chapter in Canadian history: The North West Rebellion. Building A Nation A Native Tragedy Pioneers Head West The North West Rebellion