Central Saskatchewan road closures begin as ‘above normal’ runoff expected

In its April spring runoff report, the Water Security Agency said the melt was nearing completion in areas south of Saskatoon as of April 10.

The state of the snow in the rest of the province varied. Additional snow was reported as accumulating since the previous month, especially in central communities.

“We’ve seen an above-normal snowpack in the northern part of our province, and it was a cooler, wet spring with slow melting – which allowed for perfect conditions. Then we saw some significant warmups which created the flows,” said Shawn Jacques, the president and CEO of the Saskatchewan Water Security Agency.

In reaction to this flood potential, some rural municipalities are closing flooded roads, and reminding residents to avoid creeks, lakes and other waterways.

As of noon on Thursday, 12 of the roads monitored by Saskatchewan’s Highway Hotline were said to have water on them, according to Bill Pacholka, a representative of the provincial ministry of highways.

The RM of Meadow Lake issued a state of emergency, in addition to closing some of its roads earlier this week. The Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency (SPSA) confirmed personnel were in the municipality almost 300 km northeast of Saskatoon on Tuesday.

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As of Thursday, the agency said it believes water levels have peaked for now – partially thanks to a late winter storm hitting the province.

SPSA crews are also in Beardy’s and Okemasis First Nation, according to a representative.

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The RM of Fish Creek, which is less than an hour’s drive from Saskatoon, closed several roads due to “faster melting which is causing some flooding,” it said in a Facebook post.

“Various roads are currently closed due to flooding,” in the RM of St. Louis — which is just over 100 km outside of Saskatoon.

Foam Lake is also seeing the beginning of flood season. The southeastern community issued a notice asking people to avoid the creek where water levels were high, and flows were fast.

This threat of above average flooding does not exist provincewide, said the runoff report.

“Overall most of Saskatchewan can anticipate near to below normal runoff this spring,” it said.