Saskatchewan hospital evacuated as flooding continues in Prairies

A hospital in eastern Saskatchewan has been evacuated due to flood waters that continues to wreak havoc in dozens of communities across the province and Manitoba.

The mayor of Melville, a community 145 kilometres northeast of Regina, says St. Peter’s Hospital is under a “full-scale evacuation,” which includes removing all patients.

Walter Streelasky says volunteers are moving patients to the Horizon Credit Union Centre arena while officials assess the situation.

More than 500 people have been evacuated from their homes in Saskatchewan and Manitoba, and more than 60 communities are under states of emergency.

That number will likely rise as officials started asking people living along the river in Virden, Manitoba to leave their homes last night.

In Winnipeg today, the Red River Floodway is scheduled to begin operating to divert water around the city.

Manitoba Infrastructure Minister Steve Ashton says there will be minimal flows through the floodway, but he says it must be done because of elevated river levels in Winnipeg.

The Portage Diversion is also in operation now at 17-hundred cubic feet per second.

The earthen plug will be removed from the Lake St. Martin emergency channel in the next couple of days.

In Saskatchewan, the head of emergency management for the province, Duane McKay, says some places have been cut off because of washed-out bridges, culverts and roads.

He says legally, people can’t be forced out of their homes but if they don’t have three days of food, water and medical supplies, they’re being asked to evacuate voluntarily.

(CKRM, CJOB, CTV Winnipeg, CJME, The Canadian Press)