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Highway 5 closed

It's time to bring out your boats if you are travelling down Highway 5. As of July 2, a section of Hwy. 5, about seven kilometers west of Humboldt, is closed due to flooding.
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Traffic was still flowing, although slowly, on a submerged portion of Hwy. 5 west of Humboldt on June 30. The water kept rising though and the Ministry of Highways and Infrastructure closed the road to traffic on July 2. Highway crews set up portable signs on the edge of Humboldt notifying motorists of the closure around 2 p.m. on Friday.

It's time to bring out your boats if you are travelling down Highway 5.

As of July 2, a section of Hwy. 5, about seven kilometers west of Humboldt, is closed due to flooding.

Up until July 2, the one kilometre stretch of road under water, was manned by highway workers and was down to one-way traffic.

The water level on the highway has been rising over the last few weeks, until it became too deep to pass through with vehicles.

"Right now there's a detour in place on one of the grid roads," said Doug Wakabayashi, Department of Highways and Infrastructure representative.

The detour is signed and is only for light, local traffic.

The grid road where local traffic is being detoured is not in the best shape. It was already soft from the wet conditions and has become increasingly worse the more it is used.

Heavy trucks are being detoured around to Highway 16.

As of July 5, the Department of Highways and Infrastructure has no plans for removing the water.

"I think we have to wait," said Wakabayashi. "With flooding there's not much we can do."

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