The heavy rains that fell Sunday evening forced a number of families from their homes Monday night in the Rural Municipality of Stuartburn.

Four families voluntarily left their homes after their houses were breached by rising water.

A storm system that moved through the region dumped up to 15 centimetres of rain, or more based on social media reports, on parts of the southeast. The torrential rain led to overland flooding and road washouts, which forced the municipality to declare a state of local emergency Monday morning.

Meanwhile, a Flood Watch was issued Monday afternoon for the southeastern corner of the province. The Hydrologic Forecast Centre of Manitoba Infrastructure issued the Flood Watch for both northwest and southeast Manitoba including the Whiteshell lakes area.

Levels have started to rise in local rivers and streams, and localized overland flooding had already started yesterday.

The RM of Stuartburn is located approximately 65 kilometres southeast of Winnipeg.