Emergency Response and Recovery Update: July 23, 2014

Released on July 23, 2014

• A total of 11 recovery centres were held to provide advice and assistance regarding flood recovery to affected communities.
• Approximately 1,750 attendees from 82 communities attended the recovery centres.
• The recovery centres were open for a combined total of approximately 25 days.
• The Emergency Services Officer remains in contact with the Crooked and Round Lake communities responding to requests for advice and providing information on referrals to the proper agency, Crown or Ministry for information and support – Public Health and the Water Security Agency for water quality issues, and the Ministry of Environment for debris management issues.

• For the 2014 heavy rain events, PDAP has approved 149 municipalities for designation under the program.  In total, PDAP has received 1,505 claims.
• As claims are submitted, they are triaged to determine if they qualify for a $3,000 emergency advance on the total claim.  To date, 73 claims have triggered a $3,000 emergency advance payment for a total of $219,000.  Emergency Advance Payments are provided to an eligible claimant within 10 days of submitting a completed application.  The emergency advances are sent to the claimant via Xpress post.
• Once an eligible claimant submits their completed application, an adjustor will review the damages.  Claimants can generally expect a payment within 90 days of the adjustor’s visit.
• For more information on PDAP, or to begin the claims process, contact 1-866-632-4033 or visit http://gr.gov.sk.ca/PDAP.  

• The majority of lakes and rivers across the province have reached peak levels and most are in recession.  All lakes in the Qu’Appelle system including Last Mountain Lake are now declining.
• All lake levels will remain higher than normal for the rest of the recreational season.  With the higher than normal lake levels, wind and wave action can create some issues for landowners close to a shoreline.
• An exception to the decline is in the closed basins such as Big Quill Lake (those areas with no outlet) where water is continuing to rise slowly or will remain high until evaporation exceeds inflow.
• Big Quill Lake is at 520.27 metres and will continue to rise until it equalizes with Little Quill Lake.  These lakes are well above the previous record level of 519.74 m which was set in 2013.  High levels are impacting farmland and roads, especially Grid 640 running north from Wynyard.

• The Ministry of Highways and Infrastructure continues to repair flood-damaged roads and restore full access for motorists in the southeast and east-central parts of the province.
• Several temporary bridges are subject to weight restrictions that will limit heavy traffic.  A 20 tonne gross vehicle weight restriction is in effect for:
• Highway 8 north of Highway 22;
• Highway 18 between the junction of Highway 8 and the Manitoba border; and
• Highway 361 from the Manitoba border to Alida.
• Motorists may also encounter rough patches, soft spots or one-lane traffic at these and other locations.  All drivers are reminded to obey flagpersons and slow to the posted speed during construction.
• Although the majority of flood-affected highways in eastern Saskatchewan have been reopened, some remain closed:
• Highway 22 from west of Neudorf to Killaly; and
• Highway 229 west of Highway 9.
• Current road conditions, including traffic restrictions are available on the Highway Hotline at www.saskatchewan.ca/live/transportation/highway-hotline or 1-888-335-7623.  Photos are available at www.highways.gov.sk.ca/flooding2014.

• The recovery process is well underway for health management issues.  These are moving to a more normalized process with the regional health authorities providing services as required within their impacted areas.
• A significant number of private well owners have now disinfected their systems and have submitted test samples to the Water Laboratory at the Saskatchewan Disease Control Laboratory.  For this flooding event, the province is providing fee exemptions for the test samples.
• The Ministry and Regional Health Authorities will be conducting After Action Reviews over the coming weeks to review operations and lessons learned to enhance emergency preparedness and response plans for potential future events.

• The evacuation notice that was issued for Crooked Lake Provincial Park because of severe flooding has been lifted.
• Seasonal campers will be allowed to return to the park on Wednesday, July 23rd and daily campers will be allowed into the park starting Friday, July 25th.
• The boat launch is still unavailable due to high water levels.

• The Agriculture Knowledge Centre (1-866-457-2377) is available to respond to concerns from farmers and ranchers regarding the flooding situation, and to provide agronomic information and program advice.
• Producers are also reminded of the Ministry’s Forage, Feed and Custom Service Listing, which can be found at www.agriculture.gov.sk.ca/FeedForageListing.

• Producers have been contacting their local Crop Insurance offices to report crop damaged from the heavy rain event and from storm activity in areas around the province.
• As of July 22, SCIC has received 675 pre-harvest claims* from producers.  A pre-harvest claim is filed when the producer decides not to harvest the damaged crop and puts that crop to an alternate use (i.e. spraying for weed control).  Please note, some of these claims are from other storm and hail activity in the province.
• All Crop Insurance customers are covered for flooding on insured crops through the multi-peril yield-loss program.  The majority of claims from the heavy rain event will be filed in the fall, following harvest, as producers measure whether their actual crop production meets their insured production.