By Dana Reynolds

UPDATED: Arborfield flood evacuees talk of harrowing few days

Jul 13, 2016 | 1:03 PM

Regardless of what comes their way, residents say Arborfield will regroup.

Heavy rains and rising waters Tuesday night forced the town of roughly 400 to evacuate. Neighbouring Carrot River is still under a state of emergency.

“This is a town of survivors,” resident Sandra Ralph said.

Ralph saw flood waters fill her basement, but could do little at the time but watch.

Nearby resident Mataya Moyen said the entire town came together to help their neighbours.

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“We’re such close communities… we know each other. We know if we were in the same situation they’d be there to help,” Moyen said.

Steve Evans, who has only been at his house for a year, said it was intense to see water rush into the town from the east and west.

“As we stood at the base of the stairs we watched the water crash in, take our deep freezer and hot water tank and just toss it. So we were like ‘we’re out of here,’” he said.

All Evans and his family managed to take was their computer tower and baby chair, and he said he had to wade through waist-deep water to get them.

Evans was also on the line helping sandbag the town to fend off rising flood waters.

“It was the most active I’d seen that town in a while, all it takes is a natural disaster,” he said.

Currently he and his family are staying in a camper in Melfort, and doesn’t know when he’ll return to the house.

“It’s frustrating because you don’t know what’s going to happen next, or how long things are going to take to get back to normal,” he said.

Ashley Gray, councillor with the town of Arborfield, said what he saw was like something from a T.V. show.

“I think I’ve said the word ‘unreal’ more than I’ve ever said it in my entire life,” Gray said.

The first issue the town experienced wasn’t rain water, but sewage instead. Gray added maybe some towns could handle the amount of rain, but Arborfield definitely couldn’t. He explained the town actually, within the past year, upgraded its lift station. He shuddered to think what could have happened if that bit of maintenance was put off for another year.

He and fellow residents were busy for days warding off the rising flood waters, adding before last night he hadn’t slept since Sunday.

“I was sandbagging and pumping water. You’re kind of put on the spot a lot but I think we handled it the best we could,” Gray said.

Currently, residents are left in a holding pattern; waiting to see what the weather brings and whether their berm holds. Gray said just when flooding seems contained, somewhere else will become a problem.

For now, he waits and thanks residents of Arborfield for their hard work and generosity.

“We had people willing to open their homes for people to crash there for the night or as long as they needed. It’s unreal,” he said.

The town of Arborfield partially rescinded the mandatory evacuation notice at approximately 1 p.m. Residents who live east of Fifth Ave. and west of the railway line are allowed to return to their homes, though they are urged to minimize water usage.

dreynolds@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @danitska

-With files from Spencer Sterritt