The risk of contracting West Nile Virus is at its peak over these last few weeks of summer and health officials want to remind people that proper prevention along with remaining vigilant are the best weapons to avoid becoming sick.

Dr. David Torr, consulting medical health officer for the Heartland Health Region, said a human case of West Nile Virus has been confirmed in southeastern Saskatchewan this year and the history of the virus indicates it flows from east westward. He said there are already positive pools of West Nile Virus carrying mosquitoes in Regina and in the Five Hills Health Region, so it is only a matter of time before it comes to Heartland and people need to protect themselves from getting bit.

“This is sort of a tricky time when some of the nuisance mosquitoes are diminishing in numbers and people tend to focus on the nuisance mosquitoes whereas the Culex tarsalis (West Nile Virus carrying mosquito) is more of a quiet biter,” said Torr. “It’s not like the nuisance mosquitoes that are sort of very distinct and very noticeable. It tends to bite in the dusk and in the dawn time periods and especially in the evening when people are sitting outside.”

Torr said the Culex tarsalis also thrives in the hot weather conditions that this area has experienced over the past month, so the expectation is the number of these mosquitoes flying around is high. He said the likelihood of more mosquitoes out there means more are feeding on West Nile Virus infected birds and then more humans are going to be bitten by the subsequently infected mosquitoes.

Davidson resident Gloria Morrison found a dead crow under a fir tree on her Garfield Street property last Monday and said she immediately thought of West Nile Virus. She said they haven’t decided what to do about the bird yet, but may send the crow to the Canadian Wildlife Health Cooperative (CWHC) to get it tested.

Dr. Trent Bollinger, a veterinarian with CWHC at the Western College of Veterinary Medicine, said they have confirmed one dead crow found near Allan in early August died from West Nile Virus. He said they have also determined a dead Red-Tailed Hawk found in Saskatoon this summer also had the disease.

To read more please see the September 1 print edition of The Davidson Leader.

A massive slough called Bulrush Lake on the north side of the Town of Imperial has overflowed its banks and is destroying the livelihoods of farmers who have land nearby.

Bruce Hill, who has a cherry orchard of 5,000 trees and a cherry processing plant near Imperial, said Bulrush Lake is normally at about 700 acres when it is full, but right now its size is around 1,000 acres and it keeps getting bigger. He said to try and keep the water away from his processing plant he has built a 400-foot dyke and has been pumping groundwater out of his yard every day with little progress to show for it.

“It’s like a toothache,” he said. “It doesn’t go away.”

Bruce said it is too early to assess the damage to his plants, but there is some flooding in his cherry orchard and one thing fruit trees don’t like is to be flooded. He said there are 70-year-old trees in his orchard that have been flooded for the past two months and will now probably die along with a well that is the water source for his cherry processing plant and he is concerned that could become contaminated by surface water.

“Plant loss you can insure against, but we chose not to because it never happened (before) and these plants were on high ground,” said Bruce. “Production loss is not insurable under crop insurance, so we’re going to see a drastic decline.”

David Hill, who is a livestock producer on land near his brother Bruce, said water that has gone over the banks at Bulrush Lake has flooded at least 200 acres of good farmland on his property. He said the near 20 inches of rain the area has seen since the snowmelt has just been too much and the basin can’t hold any more water.

“It spilled over and started heading for (Last Mountain Lake),” said David. “I would imagine there are another 1,400 acres on the way to the lake that are affected at least”

David said this 200-acre loss is in addition to the 100 acres or so he lost in each of the few years preceding this one. He said a well that is located “on an island in the centre of all this” has also basically been lost this year, which means he has to find another solution for watering his cattle during the winter months or else he would have to sell some of them.

“I saw it coming for the last five years,” he said. “It was building and building and this spring when we got all that rain, well, it just made a mess.”

Trevor Lewis, who owns a seed cleaning plant with his brother Daryl on land between the two Hill farms, said they have built a berm around their yard to keep the water back, but the strong winds and heavy rain the area has received is eating it away. He said they had stockpiled clay within their berm in case they had to defend against any leaks and that did prove fortunate when three sprouted one morning.

To read more please see the July 21 print edition of The Davidson Leader.

At least two tornados touched down near Davidson July 5 causing destruction, awe and some beautiful photo opportunities for those few brave enough to venture near its path.

Rural Municipality of Wood Creek farmer Jack Morrison was toiling outside his home on the warm early summer Sunday afternoon when ominous black clouds rolled across, which were accompanied by the usual heavy rainfall they bring. The low rolling clouds also brought a more unusual sight that forced Morrison into a run for the house.

“I went and got the camera,” said Morrison. “It was about a mile, two miles, away, so I went outside to take pictures. I was just watching it. It came my way a bit, but it veered off and headed east.”

Morrison said he tried to take some pictures of the twister touching down from inside his house, but due to the rain hitting the window and subsequently blocking his shots he ventured out into his yard to capture the storm. From this vantage point, he took numerous pictures of the tornado touching down and then moving across a nearby field while ripping up trees and neighbouring farm fences and buildings that crossed its path.

“When I was done taking pictures, another cloud came in from the back,” he said, noting his girlfriend Shelly warned him to the approaching second tornado from her safer spot in the house. “I turned into it (and then) was kind of paying attention to it.”

At this point Morrison’s camera batteries went dead, so he took a look at the sky and decided the next point of attack. He said the twister was heading in “pretty bad” from the north and decided to “get out of there” and head back inside.

“Then I talked to Ted Murfitt and he said there was three or four back up in the hills,” said Morrison.

Murfitt was on his farm in the RM of McCraney when the storm rolled in, but didn’t know the extent of the danger until his son Cal gave his wife Lucille a call explaining what was coming. Once Lucille relayed the message he got his camera and started taking pictures.

From his yard looking south Murfitt caught the first “big one” as it went down and stayed down on a path moving away from his property. He said this differed from the second tornado that shortly followed it because that one quickly came to the ground and then lifted back up.

Murfitt said the storm also included an inch of rain in around 15 minutes that helped add to the damage the two twisters brought to the area. As evidenced by a few after-storm photos he took, this destruction included a number of trees on the south side of Ray and Stella Kergen’s yard being stripped and snapped in half.

Morrison said the violent storm lasted about 20 minutes in total and appeared to be moving fast out of the area. He said there was no damage to his property and the pictures he took while standing outside his home show the tornado about as close as he’d like one to get.