city have also been evacuated as the waters continue to rise.

Winnipeg is the latest Manitoba municipality to issue a warning following weeks of tense flood watching in the region.

Provincial crews have partially sealed up 12 small communities along the Red River with ring dikes, including Riverside, which is now completely closed up.

Meanwhile, the municipality of Ritchot put 150 households under a voluntary evacuation order Thursday after roadways were washed out.

Other evacuations took place in nearby St. Adolphe, and evacuees have been offered stays in Winnipeg hotels.

Meanwhile, Hull said that locals are exhausted from "several rounds of this fight with the Red River."

While ice jams caused flooding earlier this month, Hull said the current warnings stem from spring runoff, warm temperatures and rising waters in tributary rivers.

"It's the thirdworst level of flooding over the last 100 years here in Winnipeg," said Hull.

The Red River is expected to crest at Morris, south of Winnipeg, on Saturday.

Officials predict the water will rise to the second highest level in a century, just short of the flood of 1997.

That "so-called flood of the century" caused $400 million in damage and forced the evacuation of some 28,000 people.

This time, the residents of Morris haven't evacuated and are instead protected by a ring dike around the town. Roads into town are closed to the north, south and west. People can still drive in and out to the east but emergency officials say the town may have to close the dike, if the water continues to rise.

Inside the town, residents are trying to