With the Assiniboine River level dropping to 1,172 feet this morning, the summer's flood is officially over.

It's been in flood stage for more than a month, since crossing that same threshold in late June, after a record-breaking month of rainfall throughout the watershed swelled the river to never-before-seen heights.

Although the Assiniboine is still a foot over its banks in some low-lying areas and floodwaters have yet to completely drain or dry up, the river has dropped more than 11 feet since its peak in early July.

The river's level is offiially measured in feet above sea level at the First Street Bridge. The river's bottom is at about 1,160 feet above sea level and it would normally be about seven feet deep at this time of year.

The province pledged more than $1.4 million to flood-recovery projects in Manitoba Monday.

The Manitoba government will assist the rural municipalities of Victoria Beach, St. Clements, Bifrost, Riverton and Gimli to boost flood protection at Albert, Patricia and Pebble beaches, Riverton and the Willow Island access road, Premier Greg Selinger announced Monday.

Funding for the projects is to be drawn from the Building Manitoba Fund. 

"The province is pleased to partner with the municipalities to build permanent dike protection," Selinger said in the prepared announcement.

Brandon’s State of Local Emergency officially ended July 28, and now city officials are turning their attention to the cleanup process.

One of the first tasks will be reopening Grand Valley Road.

“We’ll clean the road, take the dike down,” Mayor Shari Decter Hirst said. “We’re going to be putting the rock and the clay close by in case we need to deal with either more flooding this summer — heaven forbid — or a spring melt flood.”

Decter Hirst said Grand Valley Road will be the focus next week.

RBC Royal Bank customers who are affected by flooding might qualify for special financial support.

According to a news release issued on July 7, RBC customers may postpone residential mortgage and personal loan payments by up to two months. In addition, clients may be eligible to have their credit card minimum monthly payments set to $0 for up to four months.  

Sandy Kwong, RBC Royal Bank marketing and communications co-ordinator, said customers who feel they could qualify for these services should contact their local branch or call the bank’s customer support at 1-800-769-2511.

She said each customer’s situation will be considered to determine if they qualify.

It is the biggest story in Manitoba, and yet not big enough to draw the presence of Manitoba Progressive Conservative Leader Brian Pallister.

Over the past three weeks, the province has suffered floods rivalling the surges experienced in 2011, one of the worst flood years ever.

And yet, the man who would be premier -- and leader of a party that has consistently led mid-term polls -- has kept a very low profile. So much so that he is now conspicuous by his absence.

Pallister toured flood-threatened regions in the spring. And he made an unannounced trip to Portage on July 18. But other than that, it has been hard to find the Tory leader anywhere near the front lines of the flood fight.