Editing Red River of the North (section)

===1950 flood===
{{Main article|1950 Red River flood}}
On May 8, 1950, the Red River reached its highest level at Winnipeg since 1861.<ref name="Ref_2006">{{cite web | title = Winnipeg Flood – 1950 | work = SOS! Canadian Disasters: Water | publisher = [[Library and Archives Canada]]  | url = http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/sos/002028-1200-e.html?PHPSESSID=gj191qoh91idmvrkkv03trjco2 | date = 14 February 2006 }}</ref>  Eight [[Dike (construction)|dikes]] protecting Winnipeg gave way and flooded much of the city, turning {{cvt|600|sqmi|km2|order=flip}} of farmland into an enormous lake. The city turned to the [[Canadian Army]] and the [[Red Cross]] and [[The Salvation Army]] for help, and nearly 70,000 people were evacuated from their homes and businesses. Four of eleven bridges in the city were destroyed, and damage was estimated at between $900 million and $1 billion.

As a result of the floods, a flood control project was constructed to prevent such damage in the future. The Red River Floodway around Winnipeg attracted some derision at the time, as some people thought it was massively overbuilt and was the then-largest earth-moving project in the world.{{Citation needed|date=April 2009}} The project was completed under-budget, and has been used for at least some flood control 20 times in the 37 years from its completion to 2006. The Floodway has saved an estimated CA$10&nbsp;billion in flood damages.{{Citation needed|date=April 2009}}