Overland floods wreak havoc for people near Southey, Sask.

Few people enjoy their commute to and from work, but Bill and Donna Doran's situation is unique: for five weeks this spring, the couple donned chest waders and sometimes used a dinghy to travel through the water that washed out their only access road near their home. 

"It wasn't easy and most mornings it was still dark so you had to be careful," Bill Doran said.

"There's a lot of trees, fence posts and barbed wire floating around there. At night it wasn't as bad, except for the mosquitoes, but we survived it."

The couple lives north of Regina near Southey, Sask., where overland flooding is wreaking havoc on roads, yards and farm land. They both got up at 5:30 a.m. every morning to wade their way to their waiting vehicle on the other side of the water, so they could make their way to work.

A Ministry of Government Relations spokesperson says four rural municipalities in that area, including the Dorans', have been designated for provincial disaster assistance.

The water was already approaching the road last fall, according to Bill Doran. That's why crews working for his rural municipality of Longlaketon added extra gravel and other materials to build it higher before winter set in. But it wasn't enough to combat the extra moisture from the snow. 

"We figured there's going to be problems because there was a lot of water last fall, and any kind of snowfall this year we knew we'd be in deep, but i don't think anybody saw this coming, Doran said Monday. "I bet it's still rising here."

Now, he and his wife have a new option to reach their home from dry land. Crews working for the RM found a trail on the north side of their home and built it up so that it's safe to travel in their truck.

'There's only so much [the RM] can do'

You might expect frustration from a couple that has spent five weeks transporting water, food and gasoline through water through water that's waist-deep in some spots, however, the Dorans are thankful that their RM found a solution.  

"They have worked really hard to get us a way out. We've got a prairie trail north of us. They had to do a lot of work on that just to temporarily get us back and forth," Doran said from the south side of the water.

"I can't imagine how many calls they got this year with everyone complaining about their roads, farmers can't get to their land. I imagine everyone is giving them a call and tearing a strip out of them, but there's only so much they can do. They only have so many contractors that can do this kind of work."

That's not to say he and his wife are looking forward to dealing with the lake that lies between their vehicle and their home.

"Hopefully, I never have to do it again," Doran said. 

RM reeve says PDAP staff backlogged

Mark Ritter is the reeve of the rural municipality of Longlaketon. Outside of seeding his fields, he's also handling calls from a lot of residents like the Dorans who are affected by the flooding. 

"It's been wet right from the get-go. We went in through the fall of 2014 really wet and it's carried on through. Everybody's battling the wet flooded buildings, yard sites, roads, trying to get around, farmers are trying to get to their fields by any access that they can," he said. 

Ritter says it's one of the wettest years anyone in the area can remember. He says the municipal crews and their contractors are busy trying to keep up with issues across the RM, and they can only try to keep up with each new case.

He credits the municipal workers for keeping up with what they can, and says the Dorans aren't the only people in the area with water threatening their access in and out of their homes.

"There's a lot of people that are unhappy too and it's the conditions that we've been dealt and we're all in the same boat," he said. "Some things can be done, some things no. Back roads are definitely a 'not'. We're having a hard enough time with the main roads."

Longlaketon is one of four rural municipalities, according to the government, that have been designated under the provincial disaster assistance program (PDAP).

The RMs of Cupar, McKillop and Lipton have also been designated by PDAP. But Ritter says PDAP staff are also facing a backlog due to all the problems in the area. 

"The area that's been taken in with all this wet — I don't know if they have enough staff to deal with it. In fact, I know they don't. It's a problem on everybody's part and they can only do so much in a day, too, and you make do with what you can at the time and carry on," Ritter said.

"They haven't been able to get out to look at the sites."

A government spokesperson confirmed a municipality's PDAP designation is one of multiple steps toward receiving support from the assistance program.