Over the weekend, parts of Saskatchewan were hit with major rainfall, with some areas receiving up to 80 millimetres of rain. The rain caused flooding in some areas, including Eston Riverside Golf Course, just outside the southwestern Saskatchewan Town of Eston. According to a social media post, the golf course was forced to close due to the flooding, with several videos showing the extent of the water throughout the area. Jeremy Hartsook with the Eston Riverside Regional Park Authority told CTV the rain they received could have been anywhere from two to four inches. “That’s coming on, kind of the heels of last weekend, we also had kind of a similar downpour. So, things had already been kind of saturated,” he explained. “So, then I think the runoff this time was kind of much quicker than that last weekend.” Hartsook said they closed the golf course briefly after last weekend’s rainfall but said it will likely take about a week of maintenance to get back up and running after the downpour this weekend. As for preparing for a situation like this, Hartsook said not much can be done down in the river hills since you’re at the lay of the land with the way the water is going to flow. While the impacts of the flooding on the golf course have yet to be determined, Hartsook said some things may need to be redone in the future. “We’re going to have to maybe rebuild some infrastructure on this culvert that got washed out, it might require building some type of a bridge. Then there’s another smaller kind of land bridge with a culvert as well that might have to be redone,” he explained. “The difficulty is, Regional Park, kind of off the beaten path, just kind of limited in funds or whatnot. But you know, we have a pretty good community that’ll back us up,” he added. Despite the flooding forcing the temporary closure of the golf course, Hartsook said the town is fortunate to have it, noting a limited budget and limited staff. “I would certainly encourage people to come out and check out our golf course and our park,” he said. “Give us a week or so to kind of tune things back up, but we’d like people to come down and experience what we’ve got,” he said. Hartsook said the park board will now decide on a course of action, work to rebuild the course, and prepare for heavy rainfall again in the future. Updates will be posted to their social media page as they become available. If you or anyone you know is dealing with flooding after the major rainfall in Saskatchewan, please email caitlin.brezinski@bellmedia.ca - With files from Sierra D’Souza Butts
