While life in the flooded village of Vanguard, Sask., is returning to normal, farmers in the surrounding community are still knee-deep in water problems.
Aside from some piles of water-soaked items dragged up from basements, there are few signs of the storm that ravaged the community over two weeks ago, said Emergency Measures Organization spokesperson Marie Burton.
“Things are starting to return to normal.”
Most of the village’s basements have been pumped, gutted and cleaned after 333 millimetres (13.1 inches) of rain fell on the community during a 10-hour period starting July 3.
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People are still drinking bottled water but they can use town water to flush toilets and wash clothes.
Out in the country, the destruction is still evident. Entire crops are submerged and thousands of cubic metres of topsoil line ditches along the grid roads.
“How do you fix these long-term things?” asks Allan Kuhlmann, a farmer and councilor for the rural municipality of Whiska Creek.
“There’s places where the country has changed forever, I’m sure.”
He said many crops are still under water. About 1,000 acres of his own durum and spring wheat were destroyed by floodwaters. Some of his other crops were ruined by hail that accompanied the rain.
Other farmers are worse off. He knows of one man in the neighboring RM of Glen Bain who lost his house, his tools, his crops and the grain he had in storage.
“Literally everything he has was in the water.”
Another farmer can’t retrieve his new air drill that is still covered by 20 feet of water.
“There’s whole farms where guys are never going to be able to use a combine this year,” said Kuhlmann.
“Farmers are going to be years and maybe never get some of their land back into production again.”
Most farmers will seek assistance from crop insurance and private insurers, but additional help is available.
The Provincial Disaster Assistance Program primarily covers damage to infrastructure owned by municipalities, but there is also a facet of the program that can be accessed by private individuals claiming damage on items that can’t be insured elsewhere.
Private insurers cover sewer back-ups but they don’t cover house damage caused by floodwaters. The program will pay for structural damage to homes and flood damage to furnaces, hot water heaters and other appliances.
The program also covers damage to grain and bales in storage as well as repair or replacement of bins, fences and corrals.
It is operated on a cost-shared basis, which includes a deductible of either $500 or $1,000.
“The maximum a claimant would see would be 70 percent after their deductible (up to $30,000),” said program administrator Esther Johnston.
Claims must pertain to damage that occurred in a municipality that has been approved for program assistance.
So far, the village of Vanguard and the RM of Whiska Creek are the only two municipalities that have received such a designation. Five other RMs and another town in the area have applied for eligibility and will be approved in due course, said Johnston.
Application forms are available at the offices of eligible municipalities.
