The times they are a changing as they say.
And that certainly fits in terms of Saskatchewan weather.
In spite of the Brad Wall government terming climate change ‘misguided dogma’ in its most recent Throne Speech it’s rather obvious we are experiencing more severe weather events on a more regular basis.
There are those who will suggest such events are not the result of human activity, and simply natural long term patterns playing out, and that is a debate for scientists.
But we deal with the reality when the rains come.
We watched our community flood on Canada Day 2010, it was termed a one-in-decades event.
The community and Yorkton was not alone in being flooded that day, cleaned up, and moved on.
But that was the day we started to look at every dark cloud with slightly more concern.
The roar of thunder became a little more ominous starting July 2.
And then 2014 arrived, and the rains poured.
Bridges washed out.
Whole sections of highway disappeared.
Melville worried their water reservoir was about to break, which could have flooded a seniors home.
And here in Yorkton home basements flooded. Businesses flooded. It was another one-in-decades weather event.
Rain clouds became darker still.
Thunder became scary for many.
A heavy rain, the kind we once watched out the window with little worry, now sends many of us to our basements half hoping all is dry, half worried it won’t be.
The dynamic of a rain has fundamentally changed for many of us.
This past weekend we saw exactly why that is.
Estevan was hit this time. A state-of-emergency was declared. It is estimated at least 30 per cent of homes and businesses suffered water damage.
Pictures on social media showed a canoe on the streets in Carrot River.
The list seems to grow with every cloud that passes.
As does the amount of money the province has to send out through disaster assistance.
The situation is one which has changed how a community invests in infrastructure as a result.
While pavement is pocked with potholes, and sidewalks crumble at the edges, municipalities such as Yorkton are now investing millions over a multi-year plan to deal with rain water run-off to mitigate as best they can the damage seen in recent years.
Weather has become more than a topic of conversation, it is now a growing fear.
