KAMSACK, Sask. — “It’s not over yet,” Kamsack Mayor Beth Dix said last week as she and Barry Hvidston, CAO (Chief Administrative Officer), discussed the beginning-of-summer disaster that affected the community.
Pointing to her head of hair, which she claimed had gotten greyer since the four days at the end of June and beginning of July, Dix said that town council is still waiting to hear from the Provincial Disaster Assistance Program with regard to the community’s roads and washouts.
“An amazing amount of water went through the area,” she said.
Between June 29 and July 2, the town had a substantial amount of rain, Hvidston’s report to council explained. Madge Lake had over 250 millimetres of rain.
“This, combined with the higher-than-normal water table, caused issues in and around Kamsack in a number of functions,” the report says.
High water runoff came from the farmlands northeast of Kamsack. It combined with water from Madge Lake and poured through a small channel in the community. The water flowed through four culverts entering a large water basin north of the town and then proceeded through Highway No. 8 to the Riverside Golf Course before emptying into the Assiniboine River.
Some culverts could not keep up with the water, the report said. The river south of Kamsack became a huge lake for weeks afterwards.
This additional water, along with constant raining, caused the water table to be high and sewer pumps could not keep up, so the Town had to use vacuum truck pumps for days, it said. When the vacuum trucks could not keep up, a larger six-by-six pump and a couple smaller ones were brought in to assist and pump water directly into the storm sewers or ditch.
“We have not required the pumps or trucks since July 10,” it said.
Starting June 30, because of the high-water table, the sewers started to back up due to the lift station not keeping up and water entered directly into the sewer lines either through cracks in the pipes, via residential sump pumps or by surface water entering through manholes. This caused a massive backing up of water in residential houses and businesses.
The estimated cost for the pumping and the borrowing of the vac truck is $55,000.
During this emergency, a trash water pump from the water treatment plant stopped working. This pump pushes water from the water treatment plant to the sewer lines. The additional workload overloaded the pump and it no longer works. The estimated cost of this pump is $22,000.
During this period, the town had to run shifts around the clock to maintain the pumping and vacuum trucks.
Damaged was the McBeath Street culvert, which is about 150 feet in length. It is estimated that it would cost from $125,000 to $150,000 to replace.
In addition, the two 36-inch culverts on Third Avenue North were damaged by erosion. The road has sewer and water lines running above and both lines are touching the top of the culvert. These lines are the only lines that supply water and sewer to the approximately 40 residents located north of the culvert. Costs of repair are expected to be at least $100,000.
The golf course road was damaged after water flowed over the road for days. Cost of repair would be between $5,000 and $10,000 if the culvert was not damaged; if damaged, the cost would soar to about $75,000.
The road to the lagoon was beat up very badly while the vacuum trucks were hauling, and in addition, a large stretch of it was under water for days. It required a few loads of gravel and grader work costing about $1,000 to $2,000.
The road leading to the water treatment plant was under water and remained so until July 17. Assuming there was no significant road damage, the cost for repair should be between $3,000 and $5,000.
Residents were advised to contact their insurance companies with damages caused by sewer backups; if damage was due to seepage, they have been encouraged to contact PDAP to attempt to obtain compensation.
Residents have had some success, although they seem to not be receiving as much cash as had been expected, Hvidston said.
Through it all, most of the people contacting the town office thanked the Town’s public works and water treatment personnel for their work and overall residents have been extremely good to deal with, he said.
“It was a natural disaster, and we did what could be done,” Dix said.
She explained how, as a way to help residents and to relieve stress on the transfer station and the road to and from it, it was agreed to allow residents to deposit their flood-damaged items on the parking lot at the Broda Sportsplex.
No fees were charged to leave debris there or at the transfer station until the end of July, Dix explained. OSS (Ottenbreit Sanitary Services) was hired to haul the bins, while town staff filled them with the debris left at the Sportsplex. Cost of the project was estimated at $6,500.
Because of the rain, the Town’s planned Canada Day celebration was postponed to Sept. 5.
Through it all, aside from a couple of days, the Kamsack Swimming Pool has been a success. Hvidston said. Council had lowered the admission fee rates as a way to increase usage and indeed usage was up and more seasonal passes were sold.
The pool is to close for the season on Sept. 7.
