Flow Rates and Flood Potential
See also: 2011 Assiniboine River FloodThere are three hydrometric stations on the river that have been taking measurements since 1913. The Assiniboine River near Headingley has an average discharge of 45m3/s. One millimeter of runoff from half the watershed would take 70 hours to drain at flow rates of 360 m3/s. The following discharge rates were recorded during the 1995 flood:
| Location | Peak flow, 1995 (m3/s) |
Mean flow, April '95 (m3/s) |
Mean flow, May '95 (m3/s) |
Max flow, date (m3/s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Russell | 360 May 4 |
34.2 | 46.3 | 504 April 29, 1922 |
| Brandon | 566 April 26 |
81.1 | 104.0 | 651 May 7, 1923 |
| Headingley | 300 April 20 |
115.0 | 142.0 | 614 April 27, 1916 |
It is prone to spring flooding. Some flood flows can be diverted into Lake Manitoba at Portage la Prairie. In 1967, the Shellmouth Dam was built in Shellmouth to help reduce flood peaks and to supplement flows during dry periods. The Portage Diversion was completed in 1970. Despite these efforts, in May 2011 it was necessary to breech one of the dikes beside the river to relieve flood stresses east of Portage la Prairie. A Manitoba-wide state of emergency was declared in the wake of one in three hundred-year floods on the Assiniboine River at Brandon.
Read more about this topic: Assiniboine River
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