Province prepares for flooding of Saskatchewan River, Saskatchewan is preparing for an onslaught of water headed this way after heavy rainfall in Alberta caused above normal water levels in the North and South Saskatchewan rivers. The flood issues have caused the province to go into a state of emergency. Right now the Provincial Emergency Centre is activated to level 3B as we would for any regionally and provincially significant incident with multiple hazards and locations, said Colin King, the deputy commissioner for Emergency Management and Fire Safety, the Ministry of Government Relations. Already the water from the South Saskatchewan River has wreaked havoc in Calgary, flooding the downtown core of the city, and is on its way to Lake Diefenbaker, where it will cause some flooding issues both upstream and downstream of the lake.
In Prince Albert, citizens do not have to be as concerned, since the North Saskatchewan River has not seen as high of an increase in flow. Although the flow in the North Saskatchewan River is expected to be between 2,000 to 2,500 cubic metres per second, the Saskatchewan Water Security Agency (WSA) anticipates it will not have much impact on Prince Albert. We are not expecting a whole lot of issues in Prince Albert, said Patrick Boyle of the WSA. I think there is more storage capacity in the river when it gets down there. It will certainly be higher but we don't think it is going to cause an issue in Prince Albert. Prince Albert Mayor Greg Dionne agreed with Boyle. He said they don't anticipate a problem in the city.
It is not going to effect us that much. It is only supposed to go up about a metre and a half, Dionne said. The last time it went up was about three metres so at this point it is not a concern for us. Even though he is not anticipating a problem, Dionne encourages people to stay away from the river while the flow is above normal. Stay away, that is number one, Dionne said. That's all that people have to do is stay away. I know they want to watch,http://www.playoffs12s.biz/, they want to get close and see the damage and see stuff falling down, but at the end of the day it is unsafe and they should stay away. The flow in the North Saskatchewan River is a result of more rainfall in northern Alberta near Edmonton,http://www.jordangrapes5s.biz/, Boyle said. They anticipate that the increased flow will reach Saskatchewan in about four days. The flow from the two rivers will combine at the Saskatchewan River and have a large impact on Cumberland House. The major concern area is near Cumberland House, which is downstream of where the north and south rivers meet, Boyle said.
The two situations combined with the North Saskatchewan River that is flowing quite high and then the South Saskatchewan, where the government is pushing water out of Lake Diefenbaker at a rate of 2,000 cubic metres per second will cause the flows around Cumberland House to be around 3,000 to 3,http://www.squadronblues13s.biz/,500. Typical flows for the Saskatchewan River near Cumberland House are around 500 to 600 cubic metres per second for this time of year, Boyle said. If those flows exceed 3,000 we do expect Cumberland House will likely flood and access to the highway would be lost. It creates a pretty serious situation. Although the increased flow will not cause any problems in Prince Albert, it will still have a minor impact on the city, as many evacuees from Cumberland House will be moved to Prince Albert, as well as Saskatoon and even Regina.
The Government of Saskatchewan is already working on plans to evacuate residents of Cumberland House, which is proving to be a challenge considering restriction on both their airport and Highway
. Since they are unable to transport the residents in large buses,http://www.bugsbunnys8s.biz/, they will be moved with smaller buses or vans to Nipawin, where they will then be loaded into larger buses and shipped to Prince Albert and Saskatoon. There are around 2,http://www.phoenixsun8s.biz/,000 to 2,200 people in the community of Cumberland, said Linda Korney, manager of Emergency Social Service for the Ministry of Social Services. Not everyone will be requiring shelter. Some will stay with friends and family and others will stay in the community for mitigation efforts. Currently, the government is unsure how many people will need a place to stay after being evacuated.
They are focusing on evacuating the high priority people, such as pregnant women, young children and people with health concerns. We are securing facilities, different large facilities and hotels in Prince Albert, Saskatoon and possibly Regina if required, Korney said. We are arranging for beds, food services, anything else the evacuees may need. We are trying to keep these folks as close to their community as possible because typically there is more supports with friends and family. Since they are trying to keep people as close to their home community as possible, Prince Albert will be the first city to receive evacuees.
In Prince Albert, we will likely be looking at hotels and possibly the SIAST facility for a congregate facility there, Korney said. Between hotels and SIAST, it may run around 300 to 400 people. Evacuations were expected to start Saturday and Korney said they were hoping to have everyone evacuated by Tuesday.