By Lisa Schick

Garden River is swimming

Apr 13, 2011 | 11:18 AM

Spring has once again brought flooding to the Rural Municipality of Garden River.

Several of the roads in and around the rural municipality are flooding due to the high snowfall experienced in winter and the sudden spring temperatures.

There are 12 to 15 larger floods and washouts on roads and then dozens of smaller ones besides those.

According to George Aramenko, a councillor for the rural muncipality, the flooding is about to hit its peak in the next few days.

“Within a day or two the snow should be pretty well melted and the biggest run-off I think (will be) over with,” Aramenko said.

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Several of the roads get flooded when the water is running at its highest during the day when the culverts underneath the roads can’t keep up.

This flooding causes the roads to get washed out, making them very dangerous for drivers.

Aramenko said the RM is trying to stay on top of the situation by closing roads affected by the running water.

Because the roads are still frozen underneath Aramenko said the damage hasn’t been as bad as it could have been.

The flooding is expected to peak in the next few days and then the water will start to go down.

“I don’t anticipate they’re going to get much deeper … they should start to recede and then we can let them dry up and we can start fixing the roads that are damaged.”

Reeve of the rural municipality, Bernard Zurakowski, said the repairs can take a while to get going.

“It’s the water that’s going to depend on how long it’s (going to) take the water to recede, and most of the water’s going to have to go before you can start putting dirt back in, and gravel, and culverts, and such.”

The flooding and damaged roads don’t just affect residents’ traveling — it ends up affecting movement of grain, seeding and fertilizing, Zurakowski said.

Several residents haven’t been affected by the flooding yet, but are concerned about what’s going to happen before it peaks.

Merle Simpson, a hobby farmer, said he’s worried his entire property is going to flood like it’s done many times in the past.

Looking around at the fast moving water in the ditches around his property Monday afternoon, Simpson wondered aloud if the new berms that were put in to protect his property will work.

“I’m worried this year. This flood started around 1 p.m. today and you can see what it looks like right now, so I think, giving it a few more hours, if the culverts can’t keep up to it it’s going to flood over.”

lschick@panow.com