The Rural Municipality of Paddockwood in north-central Saskatchewan declared a state of emergency last week after a quick thaw caused extensive damage to roads and culverts.
One hot and windy day turned a metre of snow in farmers’ fields into a river of water. It started in the northern part of the RM and worked its way south, leaving destruction in its wake.
“I was out in the field feeding my cattle and I got off the tractor and was up to my knees in snow at eight o’clock in the morning,” said Brent Zbaraschuk, reeve of the RM.
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“By four o’clock in the afternoon, the field was bare.”
Sixty-four culverts were undermined by the water and fell through, creating car-swallowing craters in roads across the RM.
“We were looking at holes in our roads that were a minimum of two feet wide and three to four feet deep to some that were six or seven feet across. In one area we lost half a mile to three-quarters of a mile of road altogether,” said Zbaraschuk.
Seven vehicles fell through the road when drivers ignored the barricades that had been set up by the RM.
Nobody was injured in the mishaps.
Two farm families left their homes temporarily.
Zbaraschuk said the RM won’t have a firm estimate of damage for another two to three weeks. Half of the culverts have been repaired with the assistance of the province and the other half should be fixed by the end of this week.
Fortunately, the area only received five of the 61 cm of snow that was forecast to fall over the weekend, but it was enough to delay road repair for a few days.
Zbaraschuk said the winter road ban that restricts vehicle weights to 10,000 kilograms may have to stay on for another month.
The danger isn’t over. Some of the road beds are saturated and once they thaw, there could be more cave-ins.
“Of course seeding is coming. That’s another dilemma here,” he said.
“If (farmers) start driving their grain trucks full of seed, it’s going to be rough on the roads. We’re hoping it dries up and people stay off them until they absolutely have to seed.”
