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Water continues to cause traffic problems

Be careful when driving on Highway 5 or you might just float away. The water level on Highway 5 has now crept up the sides of the highway. The highway is now being manned by flag people, warning motorists to drive with caution.
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Traffic on Hwy. 5 west of Humboldt is down to one way as water continues to creep onto the road. The Ministry of Highways and Infrastructure (MHI) installed traffic lights at each end of the flooded section, replacing the flag persons who had been at the site for about a week. Grid 669, leading off the highway to the north, is almost completely under water for the first kilometre.

Be careful when driving on Highway 5 or you might just float away.

The water level on Highway 5 has now crept up the sides of the highway.

The highway is now being manned by flag people, warning motorists to drive with caution.

On June 25, traffic lights were installed to help the flag people control one way traffic.

"If the water level keeps coming up, (we will try) pumping water over the road, before we institute a detour," said Doug Wakabayashi, Saskatchewan Highways and Infrastructure representative.

They hope to avoid instituting a detour if possible.

If a detour is put in place, "it will have to go down Highway 16, because the grid roads in the area are pretty much saturated," said Wakabayashi. "That's why we're trying to take all the measures we can to keep highway 5 open."

The water levels are high this year due to a record amount of rainfall and there is nowhere for the water in the sloughs beside the highway to run.

Rip rap was installed along the highway on June 16, to prevent the erosion of the highway.

Grid 669, which is located directly off the flooded highway, is also under water and has been closed by the R.M. of Humboldt.

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