By Dana Reynolds

MLA moved by community’s response to flood disaster

Jul 13, 2016 | 10:10 AM

As Arborfield and its surrounding municipalities pump themselves out of ankle-deep flood waters this morning, July 13, the region’s MLA said he is proud of what his community accomplished in the face of near disaster.

Fred Bradshaw is the MLA for the Carrot River Valley. He said it wasn’t easy for residents given what Mother Nature recently doled out.

“It’s a bit of a disaster,” Bradshaw said, adding the major worry in Arborfield is if the berm along the Burntout Brook fails, it could spell catastrophe for the small town.

“We’ve had a lot of damage and that’s not even counting the crop damage,” he said.

He added many of crops like winter wheat and fall rye had been knocked flat due to wind and rain damage.

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Bradshaw thought the true cost of the flooding would only come to light much later.

He pronounced the scene on the ground as busy, describing evacuations in Arborfield and water pumping in Carrot River. As a long-time resident of the region, Bradshaw said he remembered floods in the past but felt there was little a community could do to prepare itself proactively.

“This is kind of one of those things that happens. Let’s face it, you can’t build a storm system to be able to handle something like this,” Bradshaw said.

When asked when he thought the state of emergency would be lifted, Bradshaw said he kept his eye on the sky. He continuously watched the forecast and added with a laugh “but sometimes they lie.” He was unable to say with certainty when life would get back to normal for his residents.

If there was a silver lining to floods in Carrot River or Arborfield, it was the community coming together in times of crisis. He applauds local volunteers who sandbagged through the night or helped their neighbours clean-out basements.

“Saskatchewan has the best volunteers – in pretty well anywhere, truthfully. When times get tough, everybody gets together and gets to work, and gets things done,” he said.

–With files from Spencer Sterritt.

dreynolds@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @danitska