EASTEND, Sask. – The waters of the overflowing Frenchman River are slowly receding this week. The river last week annexed the town of Eastend, in southwestern Saskatchewan.
The river flowed across main street, and backed up in low-lying yards near its banks. The golf course and ball diamonds were committed to a watery grave and the lowlands in the Frenchman River basin were flooded.
Cattle were moved to higher ground from valley floor ranches, with some farmsteads in this normally semi-arid region surrounded by a muddy deluge.
The town’s 650 residents had been boiling their water after the town’s treatment plant was contaminated by the rising flood.
“We’re a one-in-500-year flood risk,” said Eastend mayor Terry Haggart. “I guess the river doesn’t remember the flood of 1952.”
While some of the houses faced flooding, the majority remained above the high water mark.
“This does have its good points. It brings everybody together and you can see the strength of the community in their actions,” said Haggart.
