‘The highest water levels I’ve ever seen in my lifetime’: RM of Lakeside combats heavy flooding

The R.M. of Lakeside is dealing with the aftermath of severe flooding, which has prompted much of the province to compare the impacts of spring runoff.

The RM of Lakeside is one of many communities across the province feeling the impacts of a late snowmelt, and the significant flooding that comes along with it.

“This is the highest water levels I’ve ever seen in my lifetime. I’ve heard stories that maybe it’s been higher, higher before, but I’ve never seen it,” Jason Friesen, the reeve of the RM of Lakeside, said.

Friesen said the Quill Lake area has been battling with the rising water since last week, as the community declared a state of local emergency last Friday.

“It’s been pretty crazy actually. It started on Tuesday or Wednesday night. We got a call about 10: p.m. that a yard was flooding badly. So we started running out with graders and finding where we could shape roads and open culverts and set up pumps to try and save the yard. And that turned out to be just the start of it. The next few days, it just got progressively worse,” Friesen said.

The reeve added that many people are dealing with property damage caused by flooding, and several farmers in the area will likely see flooding impact the seeding season. Friesen also said 54 sites in the community have either been washed out or damaged.

“The majority of our grids have been impacted, so a lot of them have been closed down. We were running around trying to find roads where people could get from home to town or kids to school and stuff like that. It was a real struggle to get out of probably 50 or 60 miles for some people,” Friesen said.

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A few kilometres west of Quill Lake, the town of Watson is facing the same struggles. The sight of Leslie Fetter’s underwater backyard is quite eye-catching for those driving through the area.

“It was a mess. There were stuff floating in. You can see how the water got about 30 feet from the house by the shoreline, and all the grass and reeds that are left over there. There’s concern. I mean, there’s a lot of water, and you can’t control it,” Fetter said.

Fetter’s collection of cars, trucks and other vehicles now sit in roughly two feet of water.

“It’s going to be a lot of work to get things back to where it was and get the things cleaned up and looking a half-decent again,” Fetter said.

The Watson Fire Department has also been busy in the wake of the flooding. Fire Chief Mike Brost said he and his crew have been working around the clock to mitigate the risk flooding poses to the community and drivers.

“There was a threat on Sunday morning. [Water] went over the highway here, west of town, and it was like, okay, we got to do something so our town doesn’t flood. So basically, at that point, we set up detours, closed the highway down so no travelers were in jeopardy of getting hurt or anything,” Brost said.

Brost added the WFD offered its services to the local ambulance service in the event emergency medical technicians needed to cross flooded roads. The crew also has mutual-aid agreements with other departments in the area, including the Quill Lake Fire Department.

“We’re always kind of scratching each other’s back whenever we need each other. That’s what small towns are all about,” Brost said.

Fetter also said while the circumstances are difficult, he’s proud of his community and it’s leadership for handling the situation well.

“I just want to commend those guys for doing an excellent job in helping to get this situation under control. Everybody’s still standing. The house is still here. And like I said, now we can go fishing in the backyard if I want to,” Fetter said.