Worsening flooding leaves entire farm underwater in Garden River

Floodwaters in the Rural Municipality (RM) of Garden River continue to rise, wreaking havoc on people’s properties.

By May 6, certain areas of the RM had 10 to 11 feet of water, according to councillor Larry Adamko. That grew by another seven to eight inches overnight, he said.

One of those hardest hit by the flooding is Ian Kosik.

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Usually Garden River only cuts through a sliver of Kosik’s property and, according to Adamko, is typically four feet deep and 20 feet wide.

Now, though, it’s overflowed to the point where Kosik’s entire family farm has turned into a field of rushing water.

“I’m lost for words. It just happened so quickly,” Kosik said.

The flooding began Sunday and by Wednesday, Kosik had already lost his corrals, sheds, and even a calf. He was working on getting what he could out of the fast-moving water.

“I got grain trucks in there, and I got grain cleaner and water pump,” he said, looking towards the remaining barn.

The farm has been in Kosik’s family for at least 100 years, and in his 50 years living there, he said he’s never seen anything like this.

Just off Kalyna Road, there’s meant to be a bridge taking drivers over Garden River, though, by Wednesday afternoon that structure was completely submerged. The bridge was only closed hours earlier, with the flooding developing in a short span of time. (Marija Robinson/650 CKOM)

He said the entire situation has him feeling, “devastated.

“Wife’s in tears,” he said. “What are we gonna do?”

That question is the one lingering in Kosik’s mind as he works to save as much of his property as possible.

“I just can’t see where the money’s gonna come from to fix all this,” he said, adding how he doesn’t know if the province will chip in any funds.

In a conversation with Adamko, Kosik shared how a lot of people have expressed their sympathy, but those sympathies aren’t going to repair what’s lost.

“When it comes time to pound a nail in a fence, I hope all these guys are here to help me,” he said to Adamko.

According to the Deputy Reeve, there’s nothing the RM’s council could have done differently to prevent the disaster.

“This winter, we blew approximately 60 dams along this river system to keep it open. If we wouldn’t have done that, I think it would have been even worse,” Adamko said, explaining how Garden River went from four feet to overflowing with water overnight.

In Kosik’s mind, those dams might have prevented the water from, “gushing all at once,” he said.

Regardless of whether the dams could have helped or not, though, for Kosik the end result has left, “a mess for me.”