Was this necessary?

I got a call from Jim Brennan this week. He has a cottage on Lake Winnipeg. Not long ago, Gary Doer was in Gimli announcing his government was spending $8 million to defend cottages on Lake Winnipeg. Concerns were being raised about high water and big storms on Lake Winnipeg this fall. A few days ago, Jim Brennan arrived at his cottage to find "a mess". His yard was torn up and a big dike now runs through it. This dike looks like a road. Jim asked me "Was this necessary?" He has talked to Bill Brennan of Manitoba Hydro and apparently the best current estimate is that the level of Lake Winnipeg will be only one inch greater than last year in mid-October, and the same level as last year by the end of October. Is one inch higher than last year enough to create potentially catastrophic conditions? Most big storms come in very late October or early November, when the level of Lake Winnipeg is predicted to be about the same as last year.