I drove from Winnipeg to Gimli tonight (my first time ever taking Manitoba’s Highway 8). I snapped this at an intersection in Winnipeg as the sun was setting. By the time I was about halfway to Gimli, the sunset was more subdued, but still arresting.
Then I passed a farmer’s field, half of it underwater. It was one of the only instances of flooding I saw on the drive here (this part of the province appears to have been spared so far), but it was a big swath of water.
It was also one of the loveliest things I’ve ever seen. The dry patches of field, trees and buildings were utterly black, but wherever there was standing water, the sunset spread fire: a sprawling puddle of red and orange and yellow spilled on the darkness.
I watched it with more than a little awe. And I watched knowing full well that while I was captured by the strange beauty of this flooded silhouette, thousands of people in this province and others are watching rising floodwaters warily, or taking shelter far from homes that may not be there when they return.
I’ve been in Manitoba before during flooding, on the same in-one-night-out-the-next schedule. It feels odd to be present and yet completely apart from an unfolding event like this.
