Latest news with #CaddyLake
CTV News
11-07-2025
- CTV News
Winnipeg man drowns in Caddy Lake: RCMP
A Winnipeg man is dead after he drowned in southeastern Manitoba's Caddy Lake on Thursday. According to RCMP, the incident took place around 1:20 p.m. when two males got into the water, but only one resurfaced. The Whiteshell fire department found the missing 23-year-old man underwater. He was pronounced dead at the scene. Mounties continue to investigate.
CTV News
23-06-2025
- General
- CTV News
Creativity with a backhoe clears fallen rocks from tourist-destination tunnel
Workers are shown clearing rocks from a tunnel on Caddy Lake in Manitoba on Wednesday June 18, 2025 in this handout photo provided by the Manitoba government. A well-known cavelike tunnel that attracts boaters to eastern Manitoba has reopened, thanks to some ingenuity involving a backhoe, a grappling bucket, and a crew removing fallen rock from a tight, gorge-like opening. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Handout - Manitoba government (Mandatory Credit) WINNIPEG — A well-known cave-like tunnel that attracts boaters to eastern Manitoba has reopened thanks to some ingenuity involving a backhoe, a grappling bucket and a crew removing fallen rock from a tight, gorge-like opening. The tunnel between Caddy Lake and South Cross Lake, just north of the Trans-Canada Highway and west of the Ontario boundary, is the first of two cave-like tunnels along a popular water route for people in canoes, kayaks and small motorboats. Over the winter, there was a rockfall just outside the entrance to the tunnel. That prompted the government to close the tunnel, inside Whiteshell Provincial Park, to motorized boats and advise paddlers to portage over land. The province hired Toban Specialties Inc. to find a way to remove the fallen rock in a project that presented challenges. There were roughly 20 pieces of rock in the water, several metres down from the ground above, in an area not easily accessible. One of the larger rocks was more than a metre in length and a metre in diameter. 'The task wasn't what you do every day, but these are projects that I like to focus on,' the company's Mark Wiebe said in an interview. Wiebe and his crew got a backhoe, via a nearby road, to a grassy area above the tunnel entrance. To extend the reach all the way to the rocks, the crew used chains to attach a grapple bucket — a device with a claw on one side and a bucket on the other — to the hoe and devised a way to make the grapple bucket open and close. 'We were able to manipulate it so that we could face it downwards, so the teeth are facing at the water, and we could put it over the top of a rock and close the grapple and we could pick it up,' Wiebe said. 'Similar to what you have in a wrecker yard, picking up vehicles.' The work was done last week while the area was still suffering the effects of Manitoba's early forest fire season. Backcountry travel and waterways in the area, including the tunnel, had been closed to the public due to the wildfire threat. The Caddy Lake area has since reopened The operation was a success. Wiebe had backup plans, such as putting anchors in the rocks and hoisting them, but they weren't needed. The Manitoba government was impressed by the company's approach. 'It's definitely thinking outside of the box. It definitely shows some ingenuity from the contractor,' Joanne Podolchuk, a regional parks specialist with Manitoba Parks, said. 'The Caddy Lake tunnels are very loved in the area, and I think people will be happy that the rock has been safely removed and that access has been maintained again for that area.' This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 23, 2025 Steve Lambert, The Canadian Press
CBC
04-06-2025
- Politics
- CBC
Province reopening more areas of Whiteshell park, including campgrounds at Caddy and West Hawk lakes
More permanent residents, cottagers and business owners can now return to areas of Caddy Lake and West Hawk Lake in Whiteshell Provincial Park, the province said Tuesday. As of 8 a.m. Tuesday, Caddy Lake blocks 6, 7, 8, along with Island Block and Green Bay Resort, were reopened to permanent residents, cottagers and commercial operators, the province said in an online update. At West Hawk Lake, McDougall's Landing, Big Island Landing and Indian Bay also reopened on Tuesday. Campgrounds at Brereton, Caddy, West Hawk and White lakes will reopen for seasonal and nightly campers on Friday, June 6, at 4 p.m., the Manitoba government said in its most recent fire bulletin. An out-of-control wildfire that spread into Manitoba from the area around Ingolf, Ont., still covered a total of more than 36,000 hectares as of Tuesday afternoon, the province said, including over 5,000 hectares on the Manitoba side. An evacuation order is still in effect for some parts of the park, while closures remain for Caddy Lake blocks 1, 2, 5 and the public boat launch at Block 4. The province said Big Whiteshell, Crowduck, Nora and Florence lakes will also stay closed, as will the Caddy Lake tunnels. Campgrounds at Big Whiteshell Lake will remain closed until at least June 19. But as the Whiteshell reopened further, two provincial parks in northwestern Manitoba were ordered to close Tuesday. Grass River and Wekusko Falls are both under a mandatory evacuation order, the province said, with access restricted to all park users including campers, commercial operators and day visitors. Grass River and Wekusko Falls are both close to wildfires burning out of control near Sherridon, Wanless and Flin Flon. The Sherridon fire — the largest of the three fires — is more than 112,000 hectares in size and is still out of control, the province said. All trails and water routes in all Manitoba provincial parks remain closed, the government said Tuesday. There are 27 active wildfires across Manitoba as of Tuesday afternoon.
CBC
20-05-2025
- Climate
- CBC
2021 report warned province of wildfire risks in Whiteshell
CBC Investigates | Kristin Annable, Caroline Barghout | CBC News | Posted: May 20, 2025 10:00 AM | Last Updated: Just now Report included 10 recommendations, implementation of which is 'ongoing,' says provincial spokesperson Caption: An out-of-control wildfire near Ingolf, Ont., is seen from Caddy Lake, in Whiteshell Provincial Park, on Wednesday, May 14. A report commissioned by the Manitoba government and completed in 2021 outlined what an out-of-control blaze in the park would look like. (Caroline Barghout/CBC) As wildfires forced the closure of Whiteshell Provincial Park last week, CBC has learned a 2021 report alerted the province to what an out-of-control blaze in the area would look like, warning such an event would lead to catastrophic loss of life and property. The report, which was commissioned by the Manitoba government, included 10 recommendations. Four years later, it appears none have been fully implemented, though the province says that work is "ongoing." "Not surprised," one longtime resident said when told about the report's trajectory. Shaun Harbottle has lived in the park for decades, and owns Crescent Beach Cottages and a general store in West Hawk Lake. "Very little gets done in the Whiteshell," he said. "Our last big burn was 2016, and they said they were going to fix it then and they didn't." Image | Shaun Harbottle Caption: Shaun Harbottle, who owns Crescent Beach Cottages and a general store in West Hawk Lake, says the Whiteshell region was promised help to mitigate fires after 2016, but that never happened. Smoke from the wildfire that began near Ingolf, Ont., can be seen in the distance behind him. (Caroline Barghout/CBC) Open Image in New Tab Harbottle is referring to the 5,800-hectare fire that hit northeast of Caddy Lake in May of that year, forcing some evacuations within Whiteshell Provincial Park. This year, the southeastern Manitoba park faced a threat after an out-of-control wildfire began along the provincial border, near Ingolf, Ont. That led the Manitoba government to make the unprecedented decision to evacuate the entire park and declare a local state of emergency on Thursday, ahead of the May long weekend, at which point that fire had grown to 27,000 hectares and crossed the Ontario border into Manitoba. Report highlights limited road access The 70-page April 2021 report, titled the Whiteshell Provincial Park Wildfire Management Strategy, was never publicly released. CBC obtained it through freedom of information laws. The report was a result of a request for proposals issued in October 2020 for the development of a strategy to "reduce public risk from catastrophic wildfire" in the park. It highlights a combination of factors that make the 2,800-square-kilometre park, located near the Ontario border, particularly vulnerable. Homes in the park are surrounded by one-lane roadways, dense treelines and numerous lakes, making it difficult to get out in the event of an emergency, according to the report. "Any road closures from either traffic accidents or wildfire may result in large-scale entrapment situations leading to catastrophic events, including significant loss of life if evacuees become stranded along transportation corridors," the report said. The park is home to about 3,500 cabins, along with businesses scattered throughout a vast area. Surrounding those businesses and cabins are highly flammable trees, located close to properties and sometimes far away from a body of water that would help slow a fire, according to the report. The report simulated wildfires in the park and along a 20-kilometre radius around it to determine the behaviour of a fire in the area. It found the communities of Falcon Lake and Rennie, along with the Pointe du Bois area, were at the highest risk because of their limited access to escape routes and, in the case of north Rennie, its distance from water. Harbottle's home and business are located near the southern shore of West Hawk Lake. "If a fire were to start on my property here, everybody on the east end wouldn't have a way out. If a fire starts at the top of the hill, I don't have a way out. So it is a problem, and … it needs to be looked at," he said. 10 recommendations Ten broad recommendations were made in the report, with the objective they were to be completed within five years. They included: Formalizing safety zones to be used by residents as a last resort if evacuation routes are unsafe to use. Sharing the report's results with local first responders and working with them to identify gaps in evacuation route planning. Completing an internal review to investigate creating alternative routes for evacuations. Using the report to discuss with government officials which roads in the park should be upgraded. Completing an evacuation simulation to understand the time required to evacuate an area. Completing an "exposure analysis" to help residents understand how to mitigate risks. Encouraging businesses and residents to implement FireSmart principles, such as clearing nearby trees and utilizing sprinklers. Conducting controlled burns in areas to control pests and vegetation. The Falcon Lake area, the Highway 44 corridor and Highway 312 were identified as the top areas to improve evacuation routes. A government spokesperson didn't offer details on what happened with the recommendations in the report, but said a number of factors have changed since it was published in 2021. Many of the recommendations in the report are "ongoing," and the current fire situation "will inform any future steps," the spokesperson said in a written statement Friday. Further details may be provided once the urgency of the current wildfire situation subsides, the spokesperson said. CBC asked Mike Flannigan, a wildfire scientist at Thompson Rivers University in Kamloops, B.C., who was not involved in writing the 2021 Manitoba report, to review it. He said its recommendations were useful, and prepared with the type of situation that emerged last week in mind. The Whiteshell is a "flammable landscape," with lots of vegetation that would increase the intensity of a fire, he said. Building new escape routes in high-risk areas can be costly but is necessary, said Flannigan. "You have to build roads. And yeah, it's expensive and it fragments the landscape, but you need multiple escape routes," he said. "They are planning for events like we're seeing unfold in front of us this week."
