Watch above: Corman Park wants residents to prepare for possible spring flooding by taking a proactive approach
CORMAN PARK, Sask. – While residents in the Prince Albert area have been warned to brace for well above normal spring runoff, the latest findings from the Saskatchewan Water Security Agency (WSA) point to above normal conditions for much of central Saskatchewan.
Judy Harwood, reeve for the R.M. of Corman Park is encouraging residents in her community to take a proactive approach to the issue.
“We want people to be prepared,” she told Global News during the 2014 SARM Convention at Evraz Place in Regina.
“If there’s snow around your house, get it moved away. Make sure your culverts are clean, your ditches are clean and be ready for that spring runoff.”
According to the WSA, the area is home to poor drainage and that makes it susceptible to localized flooding. Last year many residents had to deal with vast amounts of water on their properties.
Roads within the R.M. were put to the test as well. A number of them were shut down temporarily, as water flowed over them.
Harwood says the R.M.’s public works department has been hard at work cleaning ditches and culverts. She says there are protocols in place to deal with road closures and to notify paramedics and other emergency services of changes to local routes.
According to the WSA, an abundance of new home builders and business construction in the area isn’t helping the already poor drainage in the area.
“When you develop and you start to put homes here and there, you do divert the natural flow of water so we’re very aware of that, but at the same time we want development in Corman Park,” Harwood said.
“So we’re hoping we can work very carefully with the Water Security Agency to make sure when folks do develop, we’re not putting them in an area that is prone to flooding.”
The province estimates they save about $20 in disaster relief for every dollar spent on mitigation efforts.
“There’s about 2,000 structures that have been built in the province – about $35 million – so indeed the province is a better place today than it was last year and it was better last year than it was the year before because many mitigation efforts have been undertaken,” said Environment Minister Ken Cheveldayoff at a news conference in the provincial capital.
Peak flows on the Saskatchewan River system are largely determined by the amount of snowfall in the mountains along with rainfall.
The Water Security Agency says it will closely monitor the system.
The next WSA runoff forecast is will be released next month.
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