Several Parkland municipalities are banding together after severe flooding rocked the region earlier this month. On July 6th, representatives from a large number of municipalities had a meeting about their shared struggles, and how to get back on their feet.
Ernie Sirski, RM of Dauphin Reeve, said there's only one way to put what happened in the Parkland recently.
"The message is we're trying to be consistent that this is a disaster, that's the only way to really describe it, it is a disaster. And locally, municipalities will have a hard time, if not have an impossible time, to deal with this on our own...we discussed the amount of rains that happened, the infrastructure that was damaged, including but not limited to roads, washouts, ford crossing, culverts, bridges even, and the effect that it's going to have on us going forward," said Sirski.
Last week, Sirski said he estimated around 200 roads within the RM of Dauphin alone had some sort of flooding-related damage to them. After the meeting, he realized the same is true for just about every municipality in the Parkland, and that's going to be one of the major challenges going forward.
Sirski said he sees two main problems being faced by the vast majority of Parkland municipalities: infrastructure and agriculture. From bridge damage and washouts, to flooded fields and drowned crops, there's damage almost everywhere you look.
"Well I think the biggest thing is roads in all the municipalities, and make sure that everyone has access to their property, to their home, so they can get in an out, that's one of the first priorities. The second one is the agricultural impact...we've got significant crop loss throughout the area. My own farm, it's hard to say, the cereals are holding up ok, the canola is garbage, that's the only way to describe it, and that's what I'm hearing from farmers throughout the area," said Sirski.
By understanding that every Parkland municipality has these challenges, Sirski hopes a partnership with this many municipalities will trigger a larger response from the Province, or even the Federal government.
"To make sure that we have product to work with, when I say we have product, that we have aggregate, we have gravel, we have limestone that's available, because that's in my understanding in some places are starting to run short...the other thing is to make sure we have qualified contractors to help us, because our public works crews I think in every municipality is going to really struggle to put everything together before freeze up," said Sirski.
Sirski also wants to remind residents that if a road or bridge is closed, there's a reason, even if you can't see it. He said safety is still his RM's top priority, as with every other Parkland municipality.
