WINNIPEG, Manitoba, April 9 (UPI) -- About 50 homes north of Winnipeg were evacuated Saturday as officials opened gates on the Red River floodway to protect the Canadian city.
Officials had explained earlier the gates were being raised gradually as planned to protect the city "while holding water levels south of the floodway inlet to natural levels," the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. reported.
The affected homes, many of them cottages, were mostly in the Netley Creek area near St. Andrews, the CBC said. A voluntary evacuation notice was in effect in the area.
Officials in Winnipeg said hundreds of volunteers were needed through the weekend to build temporary dikes to hold back the Red River.
The CBC said ice jams developed and then broke up several times through the night Friday into Saturday, causing the river to rise and fall quickly.
"It surprises you every time: where and when it's going to stop," Darcy Hardman emergency response coordinator in St. Andrews, told the CBC. "We just go with the punches."
Emergency officials told homeowners in the area to be prepared to leave on short notice.
Winnipeg officials issued a call for volunteers and asked city employees to pitch in and recruit family and friends to tote sandbags, the Winnipeg Sun reported. They said 200 people would be needed Saturday.
"It's no longer sort of gently asking, we are actually really asking people to step forward," said Randy Hull, the emergency preparedness coordinator.
