Despite the cold, which leads most people to believe that lakes and streams in the area have frozen, that's not the case.
Water is still flowing into lakes in the Humboldt region and rising water levels continue to threaten roads.
According to the RM of Three Lakes reeve Allan Baumann, the RM has issued a warning to people in the area that they believe a portion of Grid 773, north of Middle Lake (the lake, not the community), will likely be flooded sometime this winter. The portion the RM is worried about is a stretch nearly one kilometre long approximately eight kilometres east of Hwy. 20.
"Grid 773 will be under water, probably by mid-December and we thought we should warn people ahead of time," Baumann explained of why they issued warnings about the road last week. "On Tuesday (November 30) the water was six, maybe eight inches below the road."
The RM is concerned because the road, which they are estimating will eventually be under about two metres of water for a nearly one-kilometre stretch, is one of the few main east-west roads left in the RM.
"Once 773 goes under, there's only one left going east-west," Baumann explained. "That's the Verndale grid."
That road is the one which is already being used as a detour since Grid 777 was closed earlier this year.
The Verndale grid is also under threat of rising waters, Baumann noted. The RM has built up the stretch of road that runs through Dill Lake twice this year already, he explained. The RM has worked on that section of road five or six times in the last three to four years, he added.
The RM has been having discussions with the Provincial Disaster Assistance Program (PDAP) about funding to build up Grid 773, Baumann said. So far, PDAP isn't willing to take a pro-active approach to the problem.
"We're frustrated with their reactive approach," Baumann said. "We even had SaskWater (SWA) tell them that this is going to happen, that this road will flood, but they aren't willing to do anything."
The RM has been told that current PDAP policy is that measures to prevent future damages are not eligible for funding as PDAP is a recovery program, he explained.
The RM had contractors willing to come and work on the road this fall, but without funding from PDAP the work couldn't take place. The projected cost of building up the road is $2 million, Baumann said, an amount the RM can't afford.
While road closures to flooding aren't usual in the winter, the water in the area is still flowing, Baumann said.
"There's so much flow, that it's probably not going to freeze," Baumann stated.
He's not just referring to the water approaching 773, but to water throughout the RM.
"We are concerned about people going out on the ice anywhere," he explained. "There are a lot of place that probably aren't going to freeze."
Dwayne Rowlett with the Saskatchewan Watershed Authority (SWA), agrees that a lot of water in the Humboldt region isn't going to freeze this winter. Right now, water is flowing from Lenore Lake into Frog Lake and then into Middle Lake.
"We've measured flows of two cubic metres per second," he explained. "That's a significant flow and those waters could remain open all winter."
The SWA has been working with the RM to discuss possible options to help them deal with the flooding of 773, Rowlett said. But funding for any project to repair or replace flooded roads would have to come through PDAP, he noted.
The issue of roads and water also has Baumann concerned about the delivery of emergency services in the RM. Once 773 is closed, fire, police and ambulance personnel are going to be forced to make large detours to gain access to some areas of the RM, he explained. By the time the emergency services arrive at the scene of an accident or fire, it may be too late, Baumann added.
The SWA is already planning for more flooding in the spring. The Humboldt region and north already has slightly above normal snowfall and with the extremely high levels of fall precipitation, it won't take much to create more problems in the spring, Rowlett said.
"We have the potential of a big runoff," Rowlett stated. "In the Humboldt area, the total volume will have more effect than how fast it comes off."
The SWA will probably be meeting with RMs in the area in the spring to help them plan for any flooding that will occur in the spring.
