Water levels in Saskatchewan are okay, after a weather system in late-June brought a bunch of rain to the west and central regions of the province.
The Water Security Agency put out an advisory ahead of the rainfall on June 26th and monitored levels at lakes, rivers, and streams throughout the Canada Day Long Weekend.
WSA Spokesman Sean Osmar says most reservoirs are full or very near full and Lake Diefenbaker is currently one metre higher than at this point last year, and by the end of this month expects it to be two to two-and-a-half times higher than last summer.
“Overall, moisture is returning and that’s good for the province,” said Osmar.
There were reports of localized flooding in areas under the advisory. Communities that were under it included Kindersley, North Battleford, Biggar, Outlook, Saskatoon, Rosthern, Humboldt, Foam Lake, Regina Beach, Buffalo Pound Lake, Davidson, as well as the north end of Lake Diefenbaker, including Riverhurst and Elbow.
Osmar noted two holes on a golf course in Saskatoon were flooded, along with low lying areas and some agricultural lands “depending on where you were.”
The advisory also mentioned water flows from Alberta to Saskatchewan would increase due to the weather system, but Osmar says it’s hard to tell right now.
“We do know that they had anywhere up to a hundred millimetres of rain in parts of that storm, so depending how much flows in, obviously Alberta will divert some of that for their purposes and to their reservoirs but we will expect to see increases in flows in the coming days here.”