Murray Wood: Who's hot... and who's not
Every Friday, Murray Wood takes a look at the week's news and decides who's hot... and who's not. This week's list inclu...
The Saskatchewan Water Security Agency is warning travellers to be careful during the May long weekend, as a major storm could lead to more flooding in some parts of the province.
Leah Clark, the agency’s executive director of irrigation and economic development, said conditions have improved in many areas ahead of the weekend.
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“I think we’re turning a corner,” said Clark.
“We’re seeing a lot of those high-flow events receding quite a bit here, in the last 24 hours especially. But there is still snow pack, and we’re watching that.”
The Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency said 11 communities remained under states of emergency due to flooding on Thursday afternoon.
The list includes the rural municipalities of Barrier Valley, Big River, Buckland, Buchanon, Leroy, Meadow Lake, Ponass Lake, Prairie Rose, Usbourne and Wolverine, along with the Sturgeon River First Nation.
Environment Canada, meanwhile, says a storm could bring heavy rain and strong winds to parts of Saskatchewan over the weekend.
Clark said the snow is continuing to melt in the northern part of the province, and with the additional rain, water levels may rise.
The Meadow Lake area can expect the most rain, she said, with 20-40 millimetres of rainfall in the forecast.
Clark said areas in the northwest could see rapid runoff over the weekend.
“Typically, that that means that we have saturated soils,” she explained. “So not a lot of holding capacity for moisture.”
Clark said that can cause water to move quickly, while pooling in lower areas.
Record-breaking runoff has been recorded in areas like Smoky Burn, east of Nipawin, which saw water flow recorded at 1,000 cubic metres per second.
“To put that in perspective, at 1,000 cubic metres per second, that’s enough water to fill Mosaic Stadium to the top in under 20 minutes,” Clark said.
Flooding expected to disrupt long weekend travel
Dan Palmer, a representative for the Saskatchewan Ministry of Highways, encouraged everyone to check the Highway Hotline before travelling during the May long weekend.
“With conditions changing quickly and rapidly, it’s a good idea to check that often,” he said.
Palmer said there were five provincial highway closures and 20 incidents of affecting roads on Thursday afternoon.
He said the road 17 kilometres east of Tisdale was down to one lane of traffic after the culvert washed out on Wednesday. The road is expected to be temporarily repaired to accommodate the weekend traffic.
Meanwhile, a contractor has been contacted to create a temporary bridge over the Smoothstone River after the bridge on Highway 165 collapsed last week. The collapse shut down a crucial supply route used by uranium mining company Cameco, leading to a slowdown at some of its northern operations.
Cool weather will help ease wildfire risk: SPSA
While some grass fires have already popped up in central and southern Saskatchewan, the public safety agency said it expects the cool weekend weather to reduce the wildfire risk.
“So far, projections show its going to be a slower, cooler, wetter spring,” said Bryan Chartrand, the agency’s executive director of land operations. “It’s not going to be too rapid of a transition until later on mid-summer.”
Chartrand encouraged anyone heading to a campsite to check for fire bans in the area before lighting any fires this weekend.
He said people should also avoid idling ATVs in grassy areas, as the heat from the engine can also spark fires.
