Isaiah John McKay made it out of Red Earth Cree Nation in time to take the road, but says his aunt had to be airlifted by helicopter.

The 21-year-old is among the hundreds of people who have been ordered to leave their homes due to flooding.

“How high the water has been getting, I’ve seen up to knees,” McKay said. “All those homes, they’re pretty much built with old wood. All that wood will just start to deteriorate here soon. People’s homes are definitely going to be affected.”

The Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency (SPSA) reports a total of 22 floods in the province, and multiple communities sit empty as evacuation orders displace families.

McKay lives with his uncle and grandparents, who left with him. He said this is the third time he’s been forced to evacuate his home; the first two times were due to wildfire and heavy smoke.

“I do believe the majority of people got out their way, with their own vehicles, but we had seen … three charter buses,” he said.

“Guaranteed there’s a lot of property back in [Red Earth Cree Nation] that is being destroyed right now.

“Everything is a mess right now, but the Red Cross is helping us out a lot, which I am grateful for. As for that, we’re all just kind of just trying to see home tomorrow.”

Some families returning

Some areas are expected to get back to normal soon.

Residents of Patuanak and La Plonge will once again have safe passage in and out of their community, after nearly a week of the only road being impassible due to flooding.

The highways ministry says drivers should still use extreme caution on the road. Maintenance crews worked long hours for several days to restore it to drivable condition, working from both the north and the south ends of the road.

English River First Nation’s emergency management coordinator, Candyce Paul, said residents who were displaced, and those who were stuck at home, handled it well.

“Most of our people are heading home today,” she said. “And those who were waiting anxiously to be able to leave for whatever purposes are able to now, from Patuanak. So that’s a good thing … There were some really scary-looking places there at times. Big, big washouts, whole pieces of the road gone.”

Paul said washouts on the road were between five and six feet deep, and grew up to 12 feet wide. She and her team had to come up with contingencies for food, landfill and medical care.

She’s hopeful they’ve seen the worst of it, she said.

“I’m cautiously optimistic. There is still a bit of melt to go, but it depends on rain now and we’re supposed to get rain Monday.”

Evacuees from Red Earth Cree Nation aren’t so lucky.

On Thursday, the Prince Albert Grand Council said about 485 Red Earth Cree Nation members were in Prince Albert and 150 were in Saskatoon, along with about 185 Shoal Lake Cree Nation members.

Paul said all the water should at least delay the wildfire season by three weeks to a month.

“My hope is not to have to evacuate anyone this year,” she said. “If we have to shelter in place, we’re as prepared as we can be for that, so mostly I’m planning a lot of mitigation work as long as I can get the funding to do it.”