Flooding at Wapiti Valley Regional Park likely to ebb by weekend

People who decided to take advantage of the warm weather by heading out to Wapiti Valley Regional Park last weekend got a surprise after an ice jam on the North Saskatchewan River caused a massive and unexpected flood that left some of the park buildings almost completely submerged.

Patrick Boyle, a spokesman for the Saskatchewan Water Security Agency, said ice jams are always a risk in the spring, especially in the North Saskatchewan River. He noted they are extremely hard to predict and just as hard to deal with once flooding begins.

When an ice jam forms, it backs up the flowing water until it spills onto the riverbank, Boyle said. The area of the regional park housing the ski and recreation facilities is located in a low-lying spot off a bend in the river, which left it in the midst of significant flooding once the ice jam started to redirect the water over the riverbank.

Boyle said he was unable to estimate how high the water levels reached in the area over the weekend because the ice affected the gages monitoring the water levels. He said the flood is already starting to recede and the area should be free of water almost completely by the weekend.

“This year based on the melt, it was maybe a bit of an increased risk from that perspective,” Boyle said.

“But, (in) those low lying areas when that stuff happens the water will find its path through there — it’s the path of least resistance, right?”