Longest Footbridge in Canada Sacrificed to Flood

Souris has cut adrift its iconic swinging footbridge as rising waters threaten southwestern Manitoba.

A 177-metre footbridge, the longest of its kind in Canada, has been sacrificed by the town of Souris, Man., so that it doesn't break dikes built to prevent flooding from the rising Souris River. Canadian Forces soldiers descended on the southwest Manitoba town this weekend to help fill sandbags and build dikes in advance of the river's expected cresting sometime tomorrow. The suspension footbridge had been a landmark in the community of some 1,800, but the town's mayor said that, had it been washed away, it could have breached dikes holding back the rising Souris. The town had to do the same thing in 1976, and will likely rebuild it again.