North Battleford will flood if a big storm hits, city staff preparing

North Battleford might not be prepared for a big storm right now but city staff is slowly getting ready for when the next one hits.

The last time a damaging storm hit North Battleford was in July 2010. Roughly 200 homes were affected, 17 severely. The Provincial Disaster Assistance Program gave out roughly $1.2 million to repair damages that insurance companies couldn’t cover.

Stewart Schafer, public works director, remembers the storm well and said he is methodically preparing the city.

“That was a one in 75-year storm that caused major flooding to Eastside. We’re slowly correcting things because climate change is happening and there’s no arguing that. We put a new storm main in by Territorial and Railway. Now we are working our way up into the city core,” Schafer said. “We have to wait for UPAR (Underground Pipeline & Asphalt Replacement) and as they go into the ground they will change the current pipe to a wider drainage pipe along the way. It’s a slow and expensive process.”