Although there aren’t any evacuations at play due to wildfires, people have been ordered to leave their homes due to flooding.  

Significant rainfall paired with saturated soil has meant localized flooding for few areas of the province this week. 

Jeff DeDekker with the Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency says 13 communities and RMs have declared a state of emergency. These regions are Kamsack, Raymore, Norquay, Sheho, Togo, the Keeseekoose First Nation, and the RMs of Meadow Lake, Sliding Hills, Wolverine, Insinger, St. Phillips, Livingstone and Cote.

He adds that nine individuals have been evacuated from the Cote First Nation due to flooding.

The Ministry of Highways says the rainfall is also starting to wreak havoc on the province’s roads. Dan Palmer says there are 17 highway closures and 18 areas where lanes are covered in water between Hudson Bay and Yorkton.  

“It varies as much as the province’s geography, but those are some of the things we’re seeing: (damaged) culverts, erosion on the side of the highway, washouts, water overtopping the road,” he explains.  The Ministry is working to repair highways as soon as possible using gravel as a temporary fix.

On the other end of the spectrum, there are currently 62 active wildfires in Saskatchewan; eight of them not contained. 

There are six fires of note. These include the nine-hectare Border Fire, the 12-hectare Church Fire, 309-hectare Gulak Fire, 4000-hectare Costigan Fire, the 1393-hectare Red Fire, and the Kerslake Fire, which is 4500 hectares in size.