People living in the Rural Municipality of Cartier are scrambling to protect their homes as water continues to rise on the Assiniboine River.

Flood forecasters said the river peaked in that area on Friday, but the discovery of a faulty water level gauge has changed things in that area. Provincial officials had to change the flood outlook because the gauge gave an inaccurate reading of water levels on the Qu'Appelle River in Saskatchewan.

"If we had known in advance this would have all been done," said Bryan Ezako, who had to reinforce his sandbag dike. "We would be waiting for the waters to recede."

Ezako's home is only one of about 20 at risk of flooding. Some people did not even sandbag their homes because the risk was not initially there.

"Some of the ones that aren't so close to the river are now reacting," Said Anne Burns from the RM of Cartier. "We've been told it's going to be even higher.

Officials say a call for sandbaggers was put out for Saturday and dozens of volunteers showed up to help as the river gets higher.

According to flood forecasters, portions of southern Manitoba are expected to get 20 to 60 mms of rain between Saturday and Wednesday. Officials say they are monitoring weather conditions and will continue to evaluate the potential impact on river level forecasts.

The Interlake area, the Assiniboine, Dauphin, Souris, and Red River basins are expected to be affected by the rain. Officials say water levels will rise if there is a significant rain fall.

Flood warnings are in place for the Assiniboine River downstream of the Shellmouth dam to Portage la Prairie, streams and rivers in the Dauphin Lake Basin, streams and rivers east of the Duck Mountains, the Souris River from Melita, Pipestone Creek, Oak Lake, Plum Lake, Plum Creek to the Souris River, the Qu'Appelle River in the St. Lazare

The province says there is a high water advisory for all major lakes.

- with a report from CTV's Caroline Barghout