By Farms.com team
Farmers and residents of a large area of the southern prairies and northern USA plains are in a state of emergency after a spring's worth of rain fell in 48 hours, triggering flash floods, inundating homes and washing out roads, bridges, railways and damaging large acreages of crops.
The rising rivers and creeks combined with overland flooding led many residents to abandon their houses and to give up on efforts to pump out basements Sunday. The damage stretched from Regina to Winnipeg with the worst-hit area along the Manitoba-Saskatchewan border, where small creeks that usually dry up with summer heat turned into raging torrents.
More than 200 millimetres of rain fell over a 48-hour period in parts of a region that already experienced a spring so wet many farmers did not have a chance to seed crops. The normal average rainfall for the entire month of June in the area is about 92 millimetres. A rainfall warning continued Sunday night and into Monday, with 20 to 40 millimetres expected.
At least 40 communities declared states of emergency in Saskatchewan and Manitoba by Sunday evening. With roads cut off and no local emergency services, at least three villages organized their own evacuations as homes were overwhelmed.
“It’s a real disaster out there, a really big mess,” said Rob Paola, a meteorologist with Environment Canada.
Farmers from across western Canada and the northern US plains shared pictures and comments on Twitter showing flooded fields and damaged crops.
http://www.farms.com/Commentaries/photos-rain-continues-for-farmers-in-saskatchewan-78421.aspx
Mr. Paolo of Environment Canada said farmers in the region will likely have what little crops they managed to seed washed away, creating an additional short-term disaster on top of damage to homes and other property. “It’s going to be devastating, they may not be able to bounce back this year,” he said.
Wet weather stuck around in the Dakotas on Monday after a weekend of rainfall set records in both states and led to flash flooding that shut down roads in some areas. Minot in northern North Dakota got more than 2.6 inches of rain on Saturday, breaking a 62-year-old record for the date, according to the National Weather Service. Pierre in central South Dakota got more than 1.4 inches that day, also a record, and nearly all of that rain fell in just one hour, according to KCCR radio.
Farmers are commenting about how the flooding in damaging their crops on the www.Agriville.com Discussion Forums, click if you want to see the postings.
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