the flood came close to overcoming winnipeg's existing flood protection system. at the time, the winnipeg floodway was designed to protect against a flow , but the 1997 flow was . to compensate, the province broke operational rules for the floodway, as defined in legislation, during the night of april 30 / may 1, preventing waters in winnipeg from rising above the designed limit of above the "james avenue datum", but causing additional flooding upriver. the mayor of winnipeg, announcing what should have been the bad news that the design limit had been reached, misinterpreted this as good news that the flooding had peaked. city sand-bagging stopped, and national reporters left the city, but the water continued to rise inside and outside of the city until the actual peak late on may 3 / early on may 4. the city sometimes claims the peak occurred on may 1, while more scientific reports record a peak on may 3/4.