Extreme flooding in the RM of Stuartburn has now breached four homes in the Lonesand area and the municipality is doing what they can to prevent the situation from becoming widespread.

“It feels like chaos,” states Chief Administrative Officer Lucie Maynard, “and it seems our efforts are futile.”

She notes the provincial government provided giant inflatable aqua dams for the struggling homeowners in Lonesand yesterday, but by the late evening the equipment had been compromised. Having lost those homes to floodwaters, Maynard says her RM has refocused their efforts on homes in the community of Stuartburn and just north of Vita where the threat is imminent. Both the province and the surrounding municipalities are offering Stuartburn what sandbags and supplies they have available crews work to protect the endangered homes.

Meanwhile, roadways are becoming impassable all across the RM as water continues to collect. Maynard does not have the exact statistic but says closures have been made at dozens of municipal roads, most notably, Arbakka road, which is one of only two routes in and out of the southeastern corner of the RM.

“We tried saving it last night but were unsuccessful,” comments Maynard who says circumstances are almost equally dire at the other major exit point, Sundown Road South.

“It’s not looking very good,” she says of the municipal efforts to salvage Sundown Road from the floodwaters. “But we’re fighting to keep it open because if it closes our residents will have no way out.”

Maynard is trying to remain as positive as possible, but with dark skies still looming over Stuartburn optimism is difficult.

“It’s looking pretty gray and shabby right now,” she says. “So I don’t think mother nature will be helping us out today.”