With a brutal flooding season across Saskatchewan, many roads and bridges in rural municipalities are still underwater.
With 35 local states of emergency declared, affected communities in the province are concerned with the amount of time and money repairs will take.
“We’re a very small community in many respects… We don’t have a large budget, we don’t (have) a large workforce. So right now, even just responding to the pressures of the flooding that’s happening is really tough. And just to think of the monumental task of trying to repair all this is a bit daunting,” said Ryan Scragg, RM of Garden River reeve.
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The government says they currently have crews working on temporary repairs, like filling holes with riprap (rocks and other materials) so they can get traffic service flowing.
“It’s a dynamic situation with the water still happening. The flooding is still occurring, so they will do temporary repairs as quickly as they can and once water recedes and the flooding incident is over and things dry out, there can be a good assessment to see what needs to be done to provide a permanent repair,” said Dan Palmer, Ministry of Highways senior communications consultant.
Because they have to wait for the water to recede, the province says it’s too early to say how much emergency funding will be put into action.
In the meantime, RMs like Garden River are doing some of their own repairs and cleanup, potentially getting some help from government programs.
“For the most part we haven’t even had a chance to really start. It’s been more of a response,” said Scragg.
“Our guys are out running around with pumps, just trying to help people to alleviate the flooding concerns right now.”
Watch above for more on the flooding in Saskatchewan and the government’s next steps to make repairs.
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