REGINA — From flooding in Kipling and tornado damage near Oxbow to golf ball-sized hail in Regina, provincial officials are monitoring the aftermath of several major storms that have battered Saskatchewan communities in recent days.
Following storms on the weekend that caused heavy flooding and hail damage, the latest impacts were seen throughout the southeast Tuesday when a storm system blew through the province, causing considerable damage in the region.
Community Safety Minister Michael Weger pointed in particular to the damage in the town of Kipling over the weekend from "some very, very heavy rain and flooding," and then "the unfortunate incident" in Oxbow with the tornado going through that area.
"Obviously most people have seen photos of the devastation of that one farmyard near Oxbow as well, so quite concerning."
From his own ministry's perspective, Weger said the Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency is "ready and of course always willing and able to assist communities when disaster strikes."
"My information from just touching base with the Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency is that they haven't had a request for assistance at this time," said Weger.
However, he said the SPSA is sending a community services engagement individual to work with the Ministry of Education to co-ordinate some counselling and supports for the community schools in Oxbow and Alameda. Weger said they also have an "emergency services officer who's maintaining regular contact with the community leadership if something is required."
So far, it "seems like people on the ground have been able to get a handle on it," said Weger. He said he has reached out to the mayors of both towns, leaving messages to let them know that if they have any questions or concerns, they can reach out to him.
For the most part, Weger said, "I believe this is individual homeowners that have had damage or businesses. Their initial step is to go through and contact their insurance company and hopefully the loss is fully insurable and that's how they would resolve most of those situations."
Most of the situations he is hearing about involve either flooding or high-wind damage, depending on the communities impacted. There was also major hail damage Tuesday in Regina, including reports that the greenhouse at Government House had its windows smashed by the hail.
"Oh, absolutely. I mean, there's lots of media reports of some significant golf ball-sized hail through parts of Regina. Again, most of those situations will be individual homeowners or business owners relying on their private insurance."
For those who may need funding assistance beyond what insurance can provide, the Provincial Disaster Assistance Program could be available. The program receives federal funding, but the province administers it through the Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency. The process is prompted by a formal application from the municipal government.
"It gets initiated by the municipality, so whether it's an RM or a town or a city, their administrators all have the training through the SPSA on what to do in that type of situation," said Weger. "And then they initiate the request for assistance with SPSA as well. Typically it has to come through the municipality rather than like a private homeowner calling the SPSA and saying, 'I need sandbags.' And it goes through the municipality making that request for assistance."
The municipality can apply within a month of the event happening, said Weger, so "there's some time to assess what the damage was and just really come to that conclusion that we've got a disaster that needs to be reported and recognized as such. And then the individuals can fill out the PDAP application information, which, again, is all readily available through the Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency and through their municipalities as well."
Once the PDAP application from a municipality goes through and is approved, those individuals impacted would then be able to make their own applications to PDAP for disaster assistance, but any coverage from PDAP would be over and above what is already covered by insurance.
"So first step is always to see if you've had damage, is it something that's covered by your insurance? Because, again, PDAP is there in the event that their insurance coverage isn't covering the event. That's when you'd be looking to that PDAP program."
Weger said the best advice to individuals who have suffered damage is "just to fully document it because you will need that documentation, whether it's going to be going through your private insurance, or if you run into a situation where you don't have insurance or it wasn't an insurable loss, then you're going through PDAP, have your documentation. So any receipts for expenses, of course, photos and evidence of the damage that's occurred."
As for the timeframe, there is a period of six months for those impacted to be able to put together all the paperwork and apply.
"But again, that information package has all those timelines on it if they obtain that from their local RM administrator or town administrator," said Weger.
As for damage to agriculture or crops due to the weekend hail and flooding, Weger said he has heard those stories and those were "pretty concerning as well." He said producers would be recommended to deal with their crop insurance claim process.
As for the financial impact on the government to provide compensation through disaster assistance, it was still hard to say, said Weger.
"In the communities of Kipling and Oxbow, there may not be a whole lot going through the PDAP program, actually. Again, lots of individuals, even with overland flooding, have coverage available now. So it may very well be that as far as the Provincial Disaster Assistance Program, there may not be any cost there."
The cost of having emergency personnel communicate with people, however, is all part of the provincial budget for the Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency. As for any counselling services through the Ministry of Education, "we're fully prepared to do that and have that available."
As for the Ministry of Highways, it is not reporting major impacts from the storm, beyond some disruptions to highway construction activity as a result of the storm.
At a media event Thursday, Highways Minister Kim Gartner reported that "we've got free flow of the highways."
"Of course, there's always weather that pops up, and the storms that we had this week are no exception, and they do cause problems," said Gartner. "We've got the twinning going on on Highway 10, and, you know, the crews will come back, and they will put them back in after a big rain event like that, and we will get back operational, and just expect everyone to be mindful and be patient in the work zones."
