By Brittney Matejka

County of Forty Mile dealing with aftermath of flooding

Apr 26, 2018 | 5:22 PM

COUNTY OF FORTY MILE, AB. – The state of emergency has been lifted in the County of Forty Mile but residents are still dealing withe the aftermath.

50 roads remain closed due to flood damage and farmers in the area are delayed getting into the field to seed.

Gerard Oosterhuis said the all the extra water has put him behind schedule. He would like to start seeding next week but isn’t sure it it will happen.

“Normally we’d be seeding in the first week of April,” he said. “Now it’s the last week of April, we still have the same amount of acres to go, it’s been very wet.”

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Oosterhuis said he plans to seed 4000 acres of chickpeas, but they need a long growing season and the clock is ticking.

“These soils are still very cold,” he said. “We are just going to hold off seeding maybe into the 10th of May.”

The County of Forty Mile is also continuing to deal with the aftermath of the flooding. Reeve Steven Wikkerink said they are looking to cover an additional $1.5 million dollars in expenses as they begin road repairs.

“It’s time on our machines, labour, dirt and rock,” he said. “We don’t have in our road program budget.”

Wikkerink said some roads are in need of some major road work.

“Some of the sites will require 2 to 3 days to do some of the repairs because of the amount of road base and gravel that was washed away,” he said.

The County is looking to the province for help. Wikkerink explained they have been communicating with other areas impacted by overland flooding and they want to work together to get help.

“With all the municipalities and SM (St. Mary’s River Irrigation District) put together, we’re anticipating $8-12 million  of damage,” he said.

Wikkerink said the County of Forty mile will be submitting a disaster relief proposal to the provincial government next week to help cover some of their expenses.