SASKATOON – Waterlogged farmers in southeast Saskatchewan should be pleased to hear the worst is over.
Sask Water, the provincial agency that oversees spring drainage, says most of the spring 1996 flood will be subsiding by the weekend.
Already the water levels have dropped along the Moose Jaw and Souris rivers, and the Qu’Appelle system should have reached its peak Wednesday and begun dropping, according to Alex Banga.
The worst hit area by the weekend is likely to be the southeast, where a nexus of many creeks and low-lying flat land will keep much farmland flooded.
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Land around Candiac, Moosomin, Wawota, Arcola and Carnduff will likely be aqueous, Banga said. Bridges have been destroyed, culverts blocked and roads washed out.
Banga said severe flooding in the Moose Jaw area was caused not by high water flows, but by a massive ice jam that backed water up.
Severe flooding along the Frenchman River in southwest Saskatchewan was caused by a rapid melt and heavy snow cover, but has now subsided as well.
Another water crest will pass through Weyburn late this week from the Yellow Grass system, but it will be a lower peak than last week’s.
