By Brent Bosker

Montreal Lake evacuated again, water levels still rising

Jul 28, 2011 | 3:52 PM

High water levels have promoted the second round of evacuations on the Montreal Lake Reserve in a week and officials say it could be several days before they return home.

About 200 people have left their homes after a road within the community was cut to reduce the pressure on a local stream.

“Basically the culverts couldn’t handle the flow, so they did have to cut the road to allow that water to pass and get into (Montreal) Lake,” said Colin King, deputy commissioner of emergency management and fire safety with the Ministry of Corrections, Policing and Public Safety.

The road is the only access to about 50 or so homes on that area of the reserve, King said.

“So while that water is passing and until they can get some culverts in or whatever they need to do operationally to meet that higher flow, they aren’t able to fix the road and that’s the access issue to that portion of the community.”

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The Ministry of Social Services is providing hotel rooms in Prince Albert for about 40 people. The province suspects the rest are staying with family and friends on the reserve, but wasn’t sure on exact numbers.

Persistent rain is to blame for the above normal to record-high water levels on lakes and rivers in the region, said Dale Hjertaas, director of policy and communication with the Saskatchewan Watershed Authority (SWA).

“Montreal Lake itself is continuing to rise, its now 42 centimeters above its previous recorded peak which was in 1985,” he said.

The Montreal River is still rising and flowing at record levels, Hjertaas said. “We’re also seeing high flows on a number of the smaller streams coming into Montreal Lake and I think some of those are causing the specific problems at the lake.”

Water levels are expected to continue rising and remain high for several weeks, he explained.

“These northern flood events, there’s a lot of large lakes in the system, they absorb water so the rivers rise a little more slowly, but they also stay high for quite a while as the lakes drain.”

Lakes at capacity elsewhere

Meanwhile, the SWA is also keeping a close eye on the situation at Emma, Christopher and Anglin Lakes.

Ron Crush with the Watershed Authority said the lakes are now at capacity.

“Over the last little while, is the lake has rose anywhere from two to six inches and they had been operating at the near the top of their maximum desirable levels,” said Crush. 

Levels are not at a critical point as of yet, but residents need to be made aware that they are high, Crush said.

bbosker@panow.com