Living in Estevan in recent weeks has meant being at the epicentre of a natural disaster, but not quite. Estevan was by and large built on the high ground, and escaped the flooding that has plagued the Souris River. A smart move, it turns out.
A trailer park was evacuated, but not hit hard. Some houses in the valley did not fare so well, however, and the golf course has been more of a water hazard than fairway for weeks.
The Souris River basin has had tremendous rainfall in recent months, following heavy snowfall in the winter. The local dams in the area - Rafferty and Boundary - are filled to absolute capacity. If they kept filling, they would have overtopped, a really bad thing for earthen dams. That generally leads to the backside of the dam eroding rapidly, the dam failing, and anything downstream getting the same treatment as being flushed down a toilet. The Saskatchewan Watershed Authority had no choice but to open up the dams and let the excess water flow.
The result has been the devastation of hamlet of Roche Percee and Minot, N.D.
Despite living in Estevan for two and a half years, I've never really had a desire to go shopping in Minot. Now, there seems to be no point.
Video coming out of local TV station KXMB (www.kxnet.com) shows a city that looks eerily like New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. In this case, however, evacuations were timely and successful and no one had to be rescued off roofs.
There is resentment in North Dakota towards Saskatchewan, and rumours floating around here of some shoddy treatment of Canadians. But what could we do? Would it have been better if the dams burst? Instead of a slower rise in the water, they could have got it all at once, and numerous lives would have been lost.
Back in southeast Saskatchewan, the danger has not yet passed. While the output of the dams has decreased, and the flow levels have dropped, other areas have also been hit.
A tremendous amount of water at Griffin has been making its way to Benson and Lampman, endangering both communities. Volunteers came from all over to help build dikes and sandbag.
While the wet conditions have idled the oil patch, paradoxically, it was the oil patch that helped save these two communities from flooding. Where else in Saskatchewan can you get dozens of truck-mounted high capacity pumps at a moment's notice?
That's what happened at Benson. The hamlet was beginning to flood. A call went out for help, and 52 semi trucks along with additional pumps came. Their effort, combined with the sandbag dike and another dirt dike saved the hamlet.
Similarly, many companies allowed paid staff to help shore up Lampman as the community was threatened by the water coming from Benson.
It says a lot of the community spirit and ethic, both in southern Saskatchewan and Minot. Neighbours helped neighbours. One man who was flooded out in Roche Percee ended up sandbagging in Benson.
The only black mark has been some looting has been reported in Roche Percee. Otherwise, the communities in this region, both north and south of the border, have not fallen apart in despair like those hit by Hurricane Katrina. While that event was much larger in scale, it does go to show society does not have to devolve into chaos during times of crisis.
The only loss of life I have heard of so far has been of a heart attack, striking a man sandbagging. That was tremendously sad to hear, but also noble.
He died helping his neighbours.
- Brian Zinchuk is editor of Pipeline News. He can be reached at brian.zinchuk@sasktel.net
