People have a very troubling tendency to severely underestimate the power of water.
Recently, we who live here in the Lake Diefenbaker region have seen the sheer physicality of water as the province鈥檚 Water Security Agency opened up the Gardiner Dam spillway just after Canada Day due to rising water levels from rainfalls in Alberta.聽 Articles have said it鈥檚 the first time the spillway had been released since 2013, so it鈥檚 a pretty monumental feat in and of itself.
So not only has Lake Diefenbaker itself risen substantially, but as a result of the spillway opening its mouth and letting loose with loud, foamy torrents of water, the 小蓝视频 Saskatchewan River has also gone up exponentially.聽 I gotta say, it鈥檚 a real treat coming into Outlook and noticing the increased 鈥榟eight鈥� on the river while crossing the traffic bridge.
But with this kind of news, of course it gets followed by some less-than-flattering headlines surrounding people who just don鈥檛 seem to get it when it comes to what rising waters are capable of.
It was reported on July 6 that five people in total had to be rescued in two separate instances from the fast-moving waters of the 小蓝视频 Saskatchewan River up in Saskatoon.聽 The cases mainly involved people who were using inflatable watercrafts and became trapped against concrete structures after 小蓝视频 pushed down river by the strong currents.
Let鈥檚 remember that the WSA had just opened up the spillway four days earlier.聽 Naturally, your first thought is to grab a tube and hit the river running, right?
Listen, I'm glad no one was seriously hurt, but at the same time, I鈥檓 calling people like these five individuals out.聽 This is completely reckless and arrogant behavior on the part of some 鈥渃ity folk鈥� who think they know better than government agencies whose entire job is monitoring whether large bodies of water are safe for human usage.聽 Advisories went out immediately after the spillway was opened, telling people to be *extra* careful on the water or just avoid it altogether for the time 小蓝视频 because of the rising river levels, and leave it to these dopes to not only decide to avoid the words of caution by water experts, but according to the news article, they didn't even wear life jackets.
Reckless, arrogant, dangerous, and just plain stupid when you break it down.聽 I just have to shake my head sometimes.聽 It鈥檚 as if people easily forget just how tragic of a summer this area had in 2017.
Five lives lost to the horrifically powerful waters of the river and the lake in a span of roughly six weeks.聽 That鈥檚 almost one drowning a week.
Seventeen-year old Justin Warwaruk of Outlook was the first sad casualty of the river.聽 Justin went missing on July 16 near the Fred Heal boat launch, roughly 12 km south of Saskatoon.聽 Family, friends and the public frantically searched the waters and nearby areas for five days, with no sight of the Outlook High School student.聽 It wasn鈥檛 until July 21 that Justin鈥檚 body was found two km downriver from the launch.聽 Today, a memorial bench located at the high school serves as a reminder of such a sad loss of life.
On July 20, a rager of a storm that swept through the entire regional area saw the waves of Lake Diefenbaker reach as high as nearly two meters.聽 For two Elbow-area men boating on the north side of the lake, the storm may have been what contributed to their sad passing after their boat capsized.聽 A kayaker who saw the boat capsize and happened to be a paramedic pulled one of the men to shore and performed CPR, but he had already died.聽 The body of the second man was found the following morning after the storm.
On Saturday, July 29, a man operating a boat in the lake ended up falling into the water in distress.聽 A woman who was also onboard attempted to rescue him, but she was unsuccessful.聽 It wasn鈥檛 until August 6 that the man鈥檚 body was located, and it was discovered in the area where he was last seen.
On Monday, September 4, two men were operating a boat in the lake near Danielson Provincial Park in Pumphouse Bay when it capsized.聽 One man swam to shore and went for help, but the other 鈥� a 70-year old man from Saskatoon 鈥� sadly lost his life and was found deceased in the water.
Five lives gone thanks to the gripping, haunting strength of our local waters.聽 There could鈥檝e even been a sixth as my older brother nearly drowned after a jet-ski collision in July of that summer that threw him into the waters of Tufts Bay by the village of Elbow.
We need to be better at listening to what the experts tell us.聽 I know there鈥檚 a built-in need to go against the grain of what we鈥檙e told because 鈥淚鈥檓 not like everybody else鈥�, an emotional reaction we鈥檙e seeing ten-fold because of a viral pandemic that鈥檚 giving many of us cabin fever, but dammit people, aren鈥檛 we tired of reading bad news that should鈥檝e never occurred in the first place?
No one wants another 鈥楽ummer of Death鈥� like we had in 2017.
For this week, that鈥檚 been the Ruttle Report.
