While southern Manitoba deals with the second worst flood in recorded history, all is relatively quiet next door in Saskatchewan.
Doug Johnson of the Saskatchewan Watershed Authority said spring runoff through the Souris River and Long Creek basins in the southeast has ended.
“Things are good,” he said. “Inflows have dropped off. We’ve stopped spilling at Boundary (Dam, near Estevan). We’re getting back to normal operations at Boundary, Rafferty and Alameda.”
A week earlier, the authority had issued high streamflow advisories for the southeast after the snow pack melted and caused large flow increases.
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SaskPower began releasing water from Boundary Dam April 13 to move the water into the Rafferty Reservoir.
Johnson said there was very little downstream flooding south of Estevan but some agricultural land and low level crossings on the Souris River were affected.
Snow last week in the Hudson Bay and Tisdale regions will not cause significant problems, Johnson said.
“It’ll be a quiet spring.”
Johnson said the frost is coming out of the ground and can now accept water through more rain or snow.
Melt from the mountain snow pack has yet to arrive in the province through the South and North Saskatchewan River systems but Johnson said the amount expected is “not anything greater than average.”
Only extremely large rains in the foothills or the mountains would cause the watershed authority any concern, he said.
