Manitoba government officials desperately trying to cope with high water levels along the Assiniboine River have again delayed their decision to intentionally breach a dike, with Saturday tentatively planned as the new deadline.

The final decision on the timing of the planned dike breach had been initially scheduled for last Wednesday, but was postponed to Thursday morning before being put off again.

Unless there are any sudden leaks or other emergencies, water management crews will begin to take away material and break a section of the Assiniboine dike on Saturday morning, according to Manitoba Water Stewardship Minister Steve Ashton.

But he also stressed that any floodwater flow would remain controlled and gradual.

"It will be moving fairly slowly. There are areas ... that will not see any water for days," Ashton said on Thursday.

The province has been weighing what it calls a "controlled release" of water through the dike, which is built along a road and is located at a spot near the river known as Hoop and Holler bend.

Officials hope the resulting flood over 225-square kilometres of farmland could avert a larger 500-square kilometre flood in the rural municipalities of Cartier, St. François-Xavier and Headingley down river.

On Thursday morning, another 50 homes in the rural Portage la Prairie municipality were issued precautionary voluntary evacuation notices. The homes lie on either side of the Portage Diversion, which directs high water from the Assiniboine into Lake Manitoba.

On Tuesday, the municipality issued notices to 150 homes southeast of Portage in the interest of saving another 850 homes downstream.

CTV's Scott Laurie, reporting from the area, said officials believe the planned flood would occur as a slow spill, not a massive deluge. However, there is no certainty about where the water will go once the dike is breached.

"You control the actual breach, but what you don't control after that is where the water actually flows. Wind could be a factor, the flow of water could be a factor," Laurie said.

Lt.-Col. Shane Schreiber told CTV's Power Play that 300 troops have been adding sandbags and geo-textile materials onto the dikes to ensure no leaks or inadvertent breaches occur.

More importantly, the extra material is being added to ensure that nothing washes away when the additional water flows through after the deliberate dike breach.

"We're almost complete the initial tasks," he said, noting that personnel could be stationed in the area for another 10 days of maintenance on the dikes to ensure nothing breaks down.

"If required, there's additional troops in Edmonton to deploy forward if necessary."

While Schreiber said that the scale and scope of the flooding isn't as critical as the 1997 flood season, he said that the amount of water locals are dealing with is "unprecedented."

Still, he said that when the breach is undertaken, locals will have time to react.

"It's not going to be a tsunami," he said.

But the decision to release the flood waters isn't sitting well with many area residents.

Outraged that his otherwise unaffected home could be destroyed if the province goes ahead with its plan, area resident Danny Kreklewich says he's prepared to sue the province if he has to.

In an on Thursday morning, Kreklewich said he was particularly frustrated that his home doesn't seem to be under any natural peril now.

"This is a situation where the government is doing something to us and in a situation like that I think the only proper thing is full compensation for everything," he said.

Manitoba Premier Greg Selinger has said his government is working on a compensation program for those affected by any intentional flooding.

But Selinger's suggestion to reporters on Wednesday that he was "talking about" a special compensation program, didn't sit well with Kreklewich.

"I think that's a whole lot of nothing," Kreklewich said, explaining that's the least he would expect of his government.

"Provided they come through and take care of us, then great. But if they don't, the next step is the courts," he added, imploring the powers-that-be to "just step up and deal with it right now."

In the meantime, Kreklewich is left struggling to get any information he can and piecing together worst-case scenarios with the little he has.

"How can they just hang us out there like that and say we'll think about what we're going to do? That's not right," he said, complaining that officials "haven't told us anything at all at any point.

"To put us out to the slaughter like sacrificial lambs is unbelievable. And I seriously question these 150 houses. I suspect they're going to destroy as many as they're trying to save."

Portage La Prairie rural municipality reeve Kam Blight admits it's hard to predict exactly what might happen, but he's certain that more than 150 homes will be affected.

Officials hope the Portage Diversion, which redirects water from the Assiniboine River away from Winnipeg and directly into Lake Manitoba, can keep siphoning as much water as possible for as long as possible.

Only when the diversion spills or an uncontrolled breach appears imminent downriver, they say they'll give crews the okay to start removing the boulders now stemming the flow at the Hoop and Holler bend.

With files from The Canadian Press