YORKTON, Sask. — An east-central Saskatchewan city was in “dire straits” Friday as a flash flood turned streets to rivers and sent people fleeing for higher ground, in some cases by canoe or in the bucket of a front-end loader.
The mayor of Yorkton, Sask., declared a state of local emergency after a massive storm hit the area late Thursday afternoon, flooding five blocks of homes and apartments in the low-lying city core.
Downtown streets remained under water on Friday, said Michael Pasloski of the Red Cross. In some places it was waist deep.
“It was unbelievable. I’ve never seen anything like it,” said Pasloski.
“Most of the people that we’ve evacuated, they’ve lost everything. The water came above the basement level. It filled the basement and was coming on the main floor.
“These people were evacuated by canoes from their homes. That gives you an idea of the amount of water that came in such a short period of time.”
As of Friday afternoon, Mayor James Wilson said 130 people forced from their homes had reported to an evacuation centre. He feared that the number of people impacted was much higher though, because many were away on a long Canada Day weekend when the storm struck.
The city has flooded before after heavy rains, Wilson said. But this time, the water had nowhere to go because of all the wet weather in the region.
“We are in dire straits today. As we speak, people can not move back into their homes,” he said. “We have several people calling in today to city hall in various areas saying, ’Help, what do I do?”’
The storm also flooded cars, toppled trees, and knocked out power, but the hospital and nursing home were not flooded and neither was the town’s water treatment plant.
Residents of one flooded apartment building needed to be rescued in the scoop of a front-end loader, Wilson said.
Dean Clark, fire chief in Yorkton, said reports indicated some homes were so flooded the basements were washed out and the homes may not be fixable.
“When we get the water dealt with we’ll be able to assess that,” said Clark, who said the damage was freakishly intense given that Yorkton isn’t near large water bodies and doesn’t have a river running through it.
“It’s the first time I’ve seen rain come straight across,” he said.
Clark said crews worked through the night, especially in the hardest hit areas.
“We did pull power from about three square blocks of the affected area due to lots of water.”
He said homes in other low lying areas throughout the city were flooded, but not as significantly as downtown.
Pasloski said he doesn’t know of anyone taken to hospital or otherwise hurt by the flooding.
He said the situation is still difficult for the 17,000 residents of the city, located northeast of Regina near the Manitoba boundary.
“The streets are closed. That central area, you cannot drive a vehicle through it. It will be quite awhile before traffic flow is normal throughout the city.”
The forecast also called for more rain and unsettled weather.
Yorkton is not the only area on the Prairies to feel nature’s wrath.
Earlier this week, heavy rains delivered 80 millimetres of rain to parts of Saskatoon, flooding basements and knocking down trees and power lines.
In Alberta, flash flooding last month at Irvine, near Medicine Hat, forced dozens from their homes and stranded others. Some had to be rescued by boats or a helicopter.
Premier Brad Wall announced Thursday a cabinet committee to co-ordinate the province’s response to “unprecedented flooding faced by Saskatchewan people.”
“Our province is experiencing an unprecedented spring rainfall that is causing widespread havoc — and needs of Saskatchewan people must be addressed as quickly as possible,” Wall said.