The scars of the flood of 2011 are still visible everywhere.
You can see them along the Souris River where the raging waters permanently altered the landscape and a section of the campground at the Woodlawn Regional Park was swallowed up and swept down the river.
You can see them in the Lampman area where the waters have yet to subside, almost two years after the fact. There are farmers whose land is still underwater and will likely remain so for quite awhile. One unfortunate family still has its own lake.
But perhaps more than anywhere, you can still see the scars of the floods of 2011 in Roche Percee.
The once beautiful village tucked neatly away in the valley was rocked by the flood. All but a handful of homes on the flood plain were destroyed, along with the community hall and village office. A number of families lost their homes and many of them are still fighting to find a sense of normalcy after their lives, like the landscape, were irrevocably altered. The village itself is still fighting for its very survival.
At a meeting on April 3 in Estevan, the Village council laid out a plan for the future of Roche Percee. After months of working, waiting and hoping on a proposal that would have seen those people who lost their homes swap their land on the flood plain for land purchased at the south end of the village, the members of council simply did not see a light at the end of the tunnel and have moved on.
They will now work to develop the 10 acres of land they purchased for the possible swap. As mayor Blake Penna pointed out at the meeting, the plan is far from perfect, but it was their best chance to move forward.
The members of council should be credited for being pragmatic in a time when being pragmatic likely wasn't very easy to do. Although Penna pointed out the Village's request for funding from the provincial government to facilitate the land swap has never actually been given a yes or no answer, they are moving ahead. What other choice do they have, he noted.
But the question still lingers: why wasn't Roche Percee given an answer? After everything the people of that village went through, did they not deserve an answer?
Perhaps they simply didn't like this plan. The government has stated in the past it is not in the business of purchasing land and so it's possible that this land swap proposal wasn't something they found palatable.
If that was the case - and maybe it wasn't - why not just come out and tell the Village that?
So many people lost so much when Roche Percee flooded. They went through the ordeal of trying to get fair value for their property and belongings from the Provincial Disaster Assistance Program and many of them were given sums they were less than pleased with.
Now, they have sat around for nearly two years waiting for something to happen that would allow them to return to their village, but they still face uncertainty. They deserve much better than this and they deserve an explanation from their government.
And while they are at it, perhaps the government might explain why after all this time, the dikes that were washed out or damaged in 2011 have yet to be repaired. The government is doing a fairly nice job of patting itself on the back about all the work they are doing to help communities get ready for the possibility of flooding in 2013, but they have yet to provide Roche Percee with money to fix the mess left behind in 2011. We've tried on more than one occasion and have yet to receive an answer.
There might actually be some good answers as to why the land swap was given the cold shoulder and the dikes haven't been rebuilt. But without an answer from their government, the residents of Roche Percee are left to think the worst. And judging by many of the long faces at the April 3 meeting, they are left feeling abandoned and forgotten by their government.
It's time these people get an answer.
