There has been an unprecedented amount of rainfall in the spring months on top of already wet soil so there just isn't a lot of storage left in the system.

That's how Professor Cherie Westbrook describes the situation in southern Saskatchewan right now. She says water tables are essentially full, in fact, Westbrook says the water tables are some of the highest they've seen during the periods of records kept by the Saskatchewan Watershed Authority.

Westbrook says they are keeping an eye on Smith Creek near Langenburg which they expect will peak very soon and they're predicting flows very close to peaks seen earlier this spring. She says this is one of two times that creek has ever experienced a summer peak flow.

Westbrook says the creeks and rivers in Saskatchewan are full not only from the rain seen here, but runoff from rain in Alberta as well. She explains that the difference between the prairies and everywhere else in Canada is Saskatchewan doesn't have a very well defined drainage system on the landscape yet. She describes it as a very young system impacted by drought cycles. Westbrook also notes that when the natural storage areas like the wetlands become full, and there's not a well-defined stream network, then the water moves across the land's surface, aided by the fact that the praires are pretty flat.

Two highways on the weekend; Highways 35 and Highway 12, both saw water rushing over the roadway.