The Saskatchewan Watershed Authority is warning that another round of flooding is possible along the Souris River.
The SWA issued an advisory Wednesday informing the public that because of the heavy, wet snow that fell on Estevan area over the weekend, they will be forced to increase flows out of Rafferty Dam into the Souris. Flows from Rafferty are currently 65 cubic metres a second but will be increased to at least 100 m3/s on Thursday. That is the same rate as earlier this spring when water was released from Boundary Dam and caused significant flooding in low lying areas such as Woodlawn Regional Park.
The SWA has been using Rafferty for flood storage this spring to reduce downstream flooding from the spring melt. However, they note the large volume of water in the 2011 snow pack has filled the reservoir above the full supply level and it is now near its maximum flood elevation of 554 metres.
Because they have little in the way of storage remaining and a rapid increase in inflow because of the weekend blizzard the SWA says the release out of Rafferty must be increased Thursday and will remain at a high level until flows into the reservoir decrease sufficiently. They also warned that any increase in flow, be it from rain or snow, may require further increases in outflow.
The City of Estevan, Village of Roche Percee and RM of Estevan have been notified about the increases. The public is also reminded to stay away from the fast moving water and take steps to protect themselves and their property.
Estevan and area was hit with a fierce spring storm Saturday that dropped over 36 centimetres of heavy, wet snow on the area and caused a number of problems from paralyzing traffic to knocking out power to over 1,000 SaskPower customers.
The City of Estevan has also announced it is closing Fourth Avenue at the Brick Plant Road and that access will only be for local traffic. The Estevan Police Service is asking for the public's co-operation in the matter and are requesting they do not drive on Fourth Avenue south of the Brick Plant Road.
