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Top stories of 2013: Flooding hits central and Northern Saskatchewan

Jan 1, 2014 | 8:21 AM

Prince Albert and northeastern Saskatchewan’s spring and summer flooding didn’t just make local headlines; it made headlines across the province and the nation.

Excess spring run off and a record water release from Gardiner Dam led to evacuations, highways being rerouted periodically, park closures, and people disobeying road closures.

Reporters at paNOW donned their rubber boots, got a little mud on the tires, and drove hours to talk to people whose homes were at risk of being washed away.

While we didn’t see the level of devastation that major flooding caused in Southern Alberta, there was a direct cause and effect in our province from Alberta.

Cumberland House evacuation

The residents in Cumberland House and Cumberland House Cree Nation were suddenly displaced in June. 

The wheels were set in motion when flooding hit southern Alberta. Following that, water flowed along the South Saskatchewan River to the Gardiner Dam at Lake Diefenbaker. 

This led to the province’s Water Security Agency releasing a record flow of water from the dam.

In anticipation of where that water would go once released, the people of Cumberland House, which is along the Saskatchewan River, were ordered to leave.

An estimated 2,000 people had to evacuate the community. Temporary shelters were set up at the SIAST campus in Prince Albert, Nipawin, Melfort and Saskatoon.

Among the issues with the evacuation was a scramble to find a place to sleep when the SIAST shelter was unprepared to take people in when they arrived the first night after leaving Cumberland House.

Also, in the rush to evacuate, pets were left behind. However, the provincial government dropped off 680 kilograms of dog food by helicopter for those who stayed in the town to distribute to the animals.

Once the community was empty, a team of about 85 people prepared for flood waters.

The main road into the reserve did wash out as water flowed past, but no homes or other elements of the community were damaged when the water hit its peak. 

Once the road was patched up, people returned to the community a little over a week after evacuation.

Flooding issues around Prince Albert

Earlier in May, the Water Security Agency played another role. They warned us to expect above normal spring run off.

Later that month, Little Red River Park, just outside Prince Albert was closed due to flooding from Anglin Lake.

Mayor Greg Dionne said it was a safety issue.

“We’re having areas wash out under the ground so you may have the ground look like it’s secure, but it is not,” he said.

It wasn’t until mid-September, the parts of the park re-opened to the public.

In Prince Albert, officials were keeping an eye on the heightened flow of the North Saskatchewan River and readying evacuation plans for houses along the river. Luckily, the peak of the river didn’t rise too high along the shore.

Highway 2 flooding

This summer, it seemed everyday there was a different verdict on whether Highway 2 north of Prince Albert was open or closed.

Water washed over the highway about 12 kilometres out of the city, forcing people to detour periodically on Pulp Haul Road.

On occasion, people ignored the Ministry of Highways warnings to stay off the road, which was risky considering the strong current of water flowing over it.

It wasn’t just people looking to vacation up at Waskesiu that were affected by the flooding.

Countless areas in the RM of Buckland ended up underwater, including people’s driveways and farmland.

It was Don Fyrk’s first year as reeve in the RM, and it was quite the “year to become reeve, holy smokes.”

He had known for years that flooding was an issue in the area, and in fact said the fact it wasn’t being dealt with properly was one of the reasons he ran.

Fyrk spoke to the province on numerous occasions as they looked to solutions to the flooding.

“We had emergency management on side with us and they were out putting up berms around houses for some people we thought may be affected. There were some people that were affected that we got the berms up in time to save their homes,” he said.

With regards to the highway itself, the solution was some major trenching.

“We dug one [trench] on the north side of Viterra and that one is about, oh, two miles long,” he said.

The trench runs along a road and in addition to several others, Fyrk credits it with relieving the water flow on Highway 2.

Looking back on the year, Fyrk said on top just trying to control the flooding, one of the biggest issues were people’s concerns.

“Issues during the worst of the flooding were people’s concerns. I tried to reassure people. Some people just don’t want to listen, some people have all the answers, I don’t know, I’m just a human being,” Fyrk said.

Compared to the north stretch, Highway 2 south of Prince Albert wasn’t much of a guessing game for the latter half of spring and first part of summer.

Patches on the way to St. Louis was closed for over two months, forcing residents and the community’s mayor to demand a solution from the provincial government

Finally, at the start of July the detour was over after culverts were replaced and sections covered with gravel.

The solution was long overdue, yet came as a surprise to St. Louis’ mayor Les Rancourt.

“Actually, I just came in this afternoon and it was a nice surprise to see the signs off the road and that they’re actually open,” he said the day it reopened.

claskowski@panow.com

On Twitter: @chelsealaskowsk