Air Ronge, La Ronge on list for flood mapping project
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With flooding being Canada’s most costly and frequent natural disaster, the federal and provincial governments have announced more than $1 million for flood mapping in 21 communities in Saskatchewan including La Ronge and Air Ronge.
In total, $560,000 was pledged in federal support through the National Disaster Mitigation Program (NDMP), along with an additional $500,000 through the province’s Water Security Agency and $60,000 from the City of Prince Albert. The 21 communities chosen for the projects represent more than half of the province’s population and are meant to provide data needed to mitigate potential damages caused by flooding events and help plan for flood risk reductions.
“There are some areas in La Ronge it might apply to – mainly the area down the road towards the RCMP,” said La Ronge Mayor Ron Woytowich. “For the region, it’s a good thing but I don’t know how applicable it is, other than this one area, to La Ronge itself. If it doesn’t apply to La Ronge, it will definitely apply to Air Ronge and to the reserve, which is roughly in the same area.”
According to Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness, 2011 to 2015 was the wettest period on record for Saskatchewan. The flood mapping project is also supposed to fulfill several learning objectives of the Water Security Agency allowing them to build their capacity to design and implement a provincial long-term flood risk identification and mitigation program. The project will include light detection and radar data, so municipalities will be able to make better decisions about future development and current flood risks.
