Yorkton's mayor advised residents on Thursday of the precautions the city is taking to handle an anticipated higher-than-average spring runoff, as well as measures that residents can undertake themselves.
The city has been informed by the Saskatchewan Watershed Authority that with no rivers or other waterways flowing through the community, the risk of severe spring flooding in Yorkton is highly unlikely.
"In the normal course of a spring thaw and runoff, we've never really had any problems that [required] extreme measures," said Mayor James Wilson at Thursday's media conference. "So this message to the citizens of Yorkton is just to dispel all those rumours about how the spring thaw is going to cause us all kinds of property damage."
Although the snow hit hard early in the winter, the area's snowpack is now considered normal for this time of year.
The present soil moisture conditions present an elevated risk, however.
"Because 2010 saw the wettest fall on record, the Saskatchewan Watershed Authority indicates that there is no moisture storage available in the soil," said Wilson.
If the city experiences a warm spring without periods of refreezing, the sudden melt could spell trouble. As a result, the city has taken a series of measures to handle the runoff.
As usual, large amounts of snow are being removed from all main arteries and areas prone to flooding to expose catch basins. The administration is proposing taking an additional $30,000 from snow removal reserves for additional drainage zone clearing.
For the first time, the city has undertaken video inspection of critical portions of the storm system, identifying and clearing debris left over from the Canada Day flood. An additional $40,000 from drainage reserves is being considered for further inspections.
Additionally, the city has made available various high-capacity pumps to rapidly transfer water if required.
In the longer term, the city is preparing to construct three storm water retention ponds along Dracup Avenue in 2011, is developing the Brodie Street catch basin to reduce future flooding in the downtown area, and is completing a storm water study for the western half of the city.
The mayor urged residents to reduce runoff issues on their own property by removing excess snow from around foundations and ensuring that eavestrough spouts are properly extended away from buildings.
"As well, we encourage business owners who have large piles of snow located on their property to utilize contractors to remove that snow, because it will cause damage to their property and also cause excessive runoff."
The city has made a public snow dump site available on the north end of 4th Avenue near the Public Works yard.
Further runoff protection tips are available at the city's website, www.yorkton.ca.
