Counsellors should have reported to duty this week at Wellman Lake United Church Camp, and prepared to receive their youngest campers this weekend. Parents should have dropped off excited kids in the coming weeks and looked forward to their own summer break. But no one’s coming. Every road to the camp is washed out and, as announced on July 7, the entire season is cancelled.

Instead of taking their kids to Wellman Lake, parents are pulling waterlogged belongings from their flooded homes. Parts of western Manitoba have been swamped by torrential rain and swollen rivers in two historic rain events. The first in early June saw nearly 150 mm of rainfall in 24 hours (up to 200-250 mm in localized amounts). The second at the end of June dropped another 100 mm or more on an already soaked region. Highways and bridges are washed out, cattle are stranded, crops are submerged and homes are unlivable. Damage cost estimates are in the tens of millions. Fortunately, no lives have been lost, but recovery from the destruction will take all........

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