About 35 families located in the lower valley regions in the RM of Estevan have been notified by the RM administration that they have been put on an evacuation alert.
Greg Hoffort, administrator for the RM of Estevan, said each family had been contacted and been reminded that they should have an evacuation plan in place in the event the order has to be given.
"They are so busy right now, diking and sandbagging, but they still need a plan. Anyone downstream from the two dams (Rafferty and Boundary) are going to feel the effects of the additional release of water," he said.
A further 40 cubic metres per second is being released from the dams by the Saskatchewan Watershed Authority, making the release volume about 125 cubic metres by Wednesday morning. The additional releases were deemed necessary to accommodate the additional inflow of water into these reservoirs due to an intense two-day rain that delivered more than 50 mm of additional moisutre to the already soaked southeast Saskatchewan sector.
Alerts have also been issued for some families in the village of Roche Percee with some reports indicating that a few households have already been moved to higher ground as the rapidly moving Souris River carries the additional water flows further downstream.
