The RM of Two Borders has declared a state of emergency late Thursday night while watching water levels rise in the most extreme south west corner of the province.

Reeve, Debbie McMechan, says they are in a watch and wait situation right now and hope the weather remains rain-free with cooler temperatures to contribute to a slow melt.

“We were very concerned about a few issues in the municipality and felt that even through the night we may need to do things that would require us to in a state of an emergency, such as the necessity to cut a road. So we have spent the day on the situations as they have occurred throughout the municipality and right now we are waiting and watching to see what will happen.”

McMechan says she appreciates the many who have called in to notify them of flooded roads and felt there were between 25 and 30 roads that were closed as of Friday afternoon. 

“It’s a big municipality so many are calling in about the different road closures. Some roads have more severe breaches in the road than others. It hasn’t been that dramatic of flooding as we saw in 2014. This one is bad but it seems to be easing off very quickly.”

McMechan says it seems some areas are cresting and settling down, and yet conditions can change quickly if it rains and sun’s heat can cause areas of ice to let go. 

“Everything here really happened yesterday (Thursday), the warmth that we got, the nice temperatures that really started the melting. And then it seems that everything really let go around supper time. People were seeing signs that there was very little frost so it seems the ground never really froze that well."

"It’s difficult,” she adds, “when you don’t know if there’s more to come.”

“We do know that there is melt to come from those areas west and south of us so that will be added water so we have to be very aware and alert for everything and just hoping it won’t be so severe as we have experienced in other years.  We’re in a watch and waiting game. We feel very vulnerable even without this flood to a 2-3 inch rain, the sub soil moisture is so high, there’s no place for the water to go.”

The municipality thanks residents for notifying their office on the road conditions, and encourages them to continue over the next few days and weeks.