Twenty years ago today a vicious Colorado Low hit southern Manitoba, dumping nearly 50 centimetres of snow and becoming a springboard for the Flood Of The Century in the weeks to come.

Bob Stefaniuk was Mayor of Ritchot at the time. He says prior to that storm, the Red River Valley was already bracing for high water. But the blizzard changed everything.

(James, Stefan and Alicia Loewen in Mitchell after storm)Stefaniuk says during the storm, three thoughts ran through his mind.

"First of all I was wishing it would stop," recalls Stefaniuk. "And secondly, I thought that it's going to have a profound effect."

Stefaniuk says he also thought of the people in the rural areas who might be isolated or prone to danger. Whether they might get lost while driving or run off the road, Stefaniuk says it was a dangerous situation.

The snow that fell was heavy and combined with strong winds, Stefaniuk says it was the biggest storm he has ever lived through.

"It was relentless," he says. "It's one of these things you wash out of your mind."

Stefaniuk had been Mayor only three years leading up to the spring of 1997. One year earlier there was also flooding, though minor by comparison. Stefaniuk refers to it as "a warmup" for what was to come.

In the days following the April storm, Stefaniuk says he questioned how they would handle the inevitable. A lot of snow meant there would be a lot of water. That triggered crews to begin raising ring dikes and it prompted teams of volunteers to sandbag homes. Stefaniuk recalls Church groups delivered meals and it really got people to help their neighbours.

(Sandbagging in Grande Pointe)

"The most profound thing is how all Canadians came together and helped," says Stefaniuk. "Ottawa, the army did a tremendous job."

Stefaniuk says the events of that spring 20 years ago brought people together, creating a new character for those living in southern Manitoba. For him, 'Mayor' and 'Flood' would be two words that would forever be linked to his time in office.

"It was a profound feeling that I was sort of put on the earth for that kind of event," notes Stefaniuk. "Sort of felt good that I was there to do what I had to do."

(Ste.Agathe succumbs to rising Red River)But he says he still feels for those who lost their houses. Stefaniuk says that spring he learned the length that people will go to save their homes.

"Rather than walk away from it, they will sandbag it and do whatever they can in hopes that they can stop it," he says. "I saw that fail many times and how it knocks people down and they come back up fighting."

Stefaniuk says as a politician, he took the brunt of a lot of blame that spring.

"Before healing begins, blame has to be established, that's human nature," says Stefaniuk.

But he says it was also heart warming to see the concern expressed by people outside the flood zone; how they would give their time in whatever way they could.