I lived in rural Manitoba for 15 years - 10 of those years on a farm overlooking a river. We had a number of streams nearby that fed into the river.
As you can tell from the video referenced in this article - Chase Martens’ body found after 5 days, no sign of foul play: Manitoba RCMP - the creek he was found in
is huge. That's because it is an early spring and the snow is melting. All the melting snow from the surrounding fields drain into these creeks which then will drain into larger bodies of water (rivers, etc.). IMO, this is the most dangerous time of the year for animals and children because the ice on the rivers/creeks is deceiving - you may think you can walk on it but it's too thin and will crack. I'm not saying that is what happened to Chase, but I will say that you have to be extra careful with your dogs and with small children.
I imagine that in the summer, that creek has very little water in it, but can get quite flooded if there are torrential rain storms, etc.