Meath Park homeowner says this year’s flooding is the worst in two decades

Pauline Bear said she’s seen flooding in about 15 of the 20 years she’s lived in her home up in Meath Park, Sask.

But nothing she’s seen previously compares to the flooding the area is experiencing this year.

Read more:

• Saskatoon prepares for Shoal Lake and Red Earth Cree Nation flood evacuees
• VIDEO: Flooding forcing evacuations on Red Earth, Shoal Lake Cree Nations
• Saskatchewan floods: 15 states of emergency, residents use boats to evacuate stranded people

“The road’s washed out, the basement completely full,” Bear said, describing the impact of the floodwaters around – and inside – her home.

At 72, Bear said this will be the last time she clears out her water-logged basement. She’s planning to sell her home after this flood season.

More than a dozen communities around the province have declared states of emergency due to the flooding this spring. Record floods along the Shell and Carrot rivers have forced evacuations of several northern First Nation communities, with evacuees from the Red Earth and Shoal Lake Cree nations heading to Prince Albert and Saskatoon.

On Wednesday morning, the Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency reported 20 different flooding incidents around the province. There have been 26 incidents of flooding in Saskatchewan so far this year, the agency reported, well above the five-year average of seven.

Hundreds of evacuees from the Red Earth Cree Nation and Shoal Lake are heading to Saskatoon and Prince Albert, after record flooding on the Carrot and Shell Rivers this week. (Allister Nawakayas, Emergency Co-ordinator/Red Earth Cree Nation Government)

Bear estimated that she can see flooding for about 10 kilometres in every direction around her home.

“The road to the east and west are both washed out,” she shared.

“And it’s still coming down to me. It’s not finished.”

Flooding in areas northeast of Prince Albert in May, 2026. “Bless them all for finding us an alternate route to get out of town, because at one point you couldn’t go east, you couldn’t go west, you couldn’t go north and you couldn’t go south… we were like landlocked, almost,” said Joelle Rudick, who has lived in Quill Lake since 1997. (Darren Fladager/Submitted)

Bear said the people who owned her home before her never had to deal with a flood, but her first experience came in 2007, just a year after she bought it. After that first year, she said she and her husband had to make some big upgrades to the basement to help it withstand future flooding.

“When my husband died in 2016, it was dry (for) three years then, and before that, it was like, maybe two. Wasn’t too much,” she shared.

“Back then, we didn’t have the roads high, so it was like a big lake.”

Bear said her sump pump was simply not strong enough to combat this year’s flood waters, though it’s a tool she couldn’t live without.

“If I wasn’t here to pump my water out, I’m flooded,” she said.

“I have to be on the ball on it. That’s why I say I’m going now; I can’t do this no more. I’m just trying to save my stuff.”

Bear said she’s working as quickly as she can, with help from a friend, to move whatever she can out of her home.

Flooding in areas northeast of Prince Albert in May, 2026. Record floods along the Shell and Carrot rivers have forced evacuations of several northern First Nation communities, with evacuees from the Red Earth and Shoal Lake Cree nations heading to Prince Albert and Saskatoon. (Darren Fladager/Submitted)

Once she started to notice the waters reaching roads, Bear said she knew this season would be a tough one.

“I was prepared, because I know the signs,” she explained.

“I’m not done yet, because this is only the first runoff. Usually, I get two.”

Bear joked that the flood is God’s way of encouraging her to move out of her home.

“The Lord said, ‘Well, Pauline, gotta clean you up… and the only way I know how to clean you up is to flood you out.’”

Flooding in areas northeast of Prince Albert in May, 2026. More than a dozen communities around Saskatchewan have declared states of emergency due to the rising waters. (Darren Fladager/Submitted)

Quill Lake resident says flooding the worst she’s seen in 20 years

Joelle Rudick, who has lived in Quill Lake since 1997, said this is the worst flooding she’s ever seen in the area. Her husband, who has lived in the region since the ‘60s, agreed.

She said the village “got away quite lucky,” but the surrounding areas were hit much harder by the rising waters.

“The RM is not in good shape,” she said in an interview on Tuesday.

“I’m sure there has been some damage. There was a farm straight north of Clair that had water in the basement, and it’s a total write-off. They were actually Sea-Dooing in the yard, it was so full.”

Rudick gave credit to local fire departments, rural municipalities and town employees who worked tirelessly to close the roads impacted by the flooding and clear routes for residents to use.

“Bless them all for finding us an alternate route to get out of town, because at one point you couldn’t go east, you couldn’t go west, you couldn’t go north and you couldn’t go south… we were like landlocked, almost,” she said.

“Our full-time town employee was sleeping in his town truck over the weekend in town here, with his daughter in one truck and him in the other truck. These guys don’t get paid enough. They really don’t.”

Rudick said the area got three snowstorms in three weeks in April, and the snow melted quickly in the warm temperatures in recent days. She said the snow is largely gone from the ground at this point, and cooler temperatures have slowed the rate of melting, so she’s hoping the worst of the flooding is over.

“I don’t think we can handle a round two,” she said.

–with files from 650 CKOM’s Roman Hayter and 980 CJME’s Abby Zieverink