ESTEVAN, Sask. — Ray Frehlick has operated Prairie Mud Service for more than 40 years in the southeastern Saskatchewan oil fields, but it’s mud of a different sort that concerns him this year.
Frehlick also farms 14,000 acres in the area.
“We thought we had about 2,500 seeded but that has dropped,” he said last week. At least 500 acres of that is now under water.
Frehlick is among the lucky ones in this region who actually turned a wheel this year.
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Stan Lainton, reeve of the Rural Municipality of Coalfields, usually seeds about 2,500 east of Estevan but hasn’t planted a single one.
“Some of the bigger guys got going but their acres are now under water,” he said. “There’s not 20 percent growing. Roads are under (water) everywhere and those that aren’t are taking the full brunt of all the traffic.”
The flooding Souris River system is taking the blame for most of the flooding. It has forced people out of their homes along the valley and in the village of Roche Percee just southeast of Estevan.
The spring runoff, combined with extraordinary rain events, filled the Boundary and Rafferty reservoirs and resulted in unprecedented releases of water. As of June 27 the releases had been halved and the levels were dropping.
Officials warned people not to be too quick to take down sandbags and other flood prevention works in case another extreme rain event occurs before levels can significantly drop.
But even farmers who aren’t close to the Souris are facing water levels they haven’t seen before.
North of Estevan the communities of Benson and Lampman battled rising water from nearby marshes that had absorbed all the water they could.
The water table is so high that there is no place for water to go anymore.
Closer to the city, Frehlick helped friend and neighbour Allan Hagel by pumping water out of the field surrounding three farm homes.
“We’ve been pumping for two weeks and we haven’t lowered it an inch,” Frehlick said last week. “In fact, it rose a foot.”
Hagel’s hay is under water and two barns are unusable.
Frehlick recalls other wet years, including 1974, 1977 and 1988, but he said the area has never received 355 millimetres (14 inches) of rain between May 1 and June 20.
There are entire sections of land covered in a metre of water.
“You stop on a hill and you might get stuck,” he observed.
All agree that it will take months, if not years, to recover from the flood of 2011.
Premier Brad Wall said last week the province would use its $1 billion rainy day fund to help that recovery.
He noted that the oil field around Estevan is largely inactive because of the wet weather and the economic implications of the flood are far-reaching.
In Frehlich’s case, his crews work in other regions and other provinces, which gives his company a cushion. Other employees are helping to sandbag and he sent some vans to Oxbow so evacuees could store possessions.
“The real, real hit is going to be next year once the grain bins are empty,” he said of farmers.
Lainton, who also serves as his RM’s emergency measures officer and emergency social services coordinator, estimated that between 50 and 60 percent of the farmers in his region are not in crop insurance.
Agriculture minister Bob Bjornerud said earlier this year that farmers should participate in the program if they wanted to be eligible for any other assistance that might be offered.
Lainton said RMs face a long recovery in terms of repairing roads, bridges and culverts.
The Provincial Disaster Assistance Program, which is cost-shared by the federal government to varying degrees depending on the severity of damage, is available but Wall said last week it had to repay the provinces sooner.
Saskatchewan is still receiving federal payments from 2005 events.
Meanwhile, the forecast of hot dry weather for this week gave some a reprieve from the constant battle.
The bulk of the Souris River water had moved through Minot, North Dakota, where it destroyed thousands of homes.
That water now moves back into Manitoba where residents have been preparing for its arrival.
