Flooding wipes out nearly two-thirds of Manitoba campground’s sites

Heavy June and July rains have washed out several sites at Asessippi Beach and Campground.

A campground along the Shell River in western Manitoba has lost 14 of its 22 campsites after being hit by two major floods within three weeks.

As a result, its owner and operator said she doesn’t expect to reopen this summer.

Karen Goraluk runs Asessippi Beach and Campground, located just off Highway 83, about 20 kilometres north of Russell. She said the trouble began on April 21, when spring runoff and heavy rain flooded nearby Bear Creek.

The creek tore a culvert — which she estimated at 10 feet wide and about 40 feet long — out of the road, cutting off access to the campground for a couple of months while it was repaired.

“It didn’t affect the campground at all, but it did affect the business because nobody could get to our campground from Highway 83,” Goraluk said.

Then, on June 10, she said water surging down the Shell River rose eight feet within three or four hours. Goraluk said she believes the river was fed largely by runoff from Duck Mountain Provincial Park.

That flood submerged the campground’s beach huts and washed away two riverside campsites.

A second flood on June 30 washed away a dozen more sites, carving away roughly 130 feet of riverbank along with a deck, Goraluk said.

“The land fell into the river,” she said. “It’s very sandy, and it just started to eat away — the first flood, and the second flood took a whole bunch more, so that area, it’s half gone.”

With just eight sites left, Goraluk said the campground can’t generate enough revenue to operate.

“I don’t think we’ll open this summer,” she said, adding it will likely be next year before any rebuilding is done.

Flooding also undermined the nearby Highway 83 bridge, which is closed in both directions, according to Manitoba 511.

Goraluk said the flood knocked out power to the campground after Hydro crews shut it off during the first flood.

“Now my [campground] pedestals with my wires and hoses for the water — from pedestal to pedestal — are just kind of hanging there in the water,” she said. “And at the time, it brought in tons of sand.”

Goraluk said she and her husband took over the campground in 2008 and reopened it with upgrades including new power service. She said the property spans about 23 acres in total, with 11 acres making up the campground itself.

Goraluk, who grew up in Russell, said she has never seen flooding like this on the river.

“You talk to lots of people that are older, 70, 80, and they’ve never ever seen this before,” she said. “It’s a one-off, but to happen twice in one year is crazy.”

She said she has no insurance coverage for overland flooding or lost revenue, but intends to look into the province’s disaster financial assistance program.

Goraluk said some farmland in the Assiniboine Valley remains underwater, noting that flooding has pummelled communities in the area.

“So many other people have way more hardship than I have,” she said. “At least it wasn’t my home.”