REGINA – SaskTel employees are monitoring SaskTel buildings and infrastructure to ensure that services are maintained during the on-going flooding in the province.
Under the company’s flood preparedness plan, preparations began weeks ago with snow removal around SaskTel buildings and continued with sandbagging around SaskTel facilities in the most flood prone locations. Pumps, generators, batteries and other equipment are in place and fully operational in case they are needed, the company detailed.
“SaskTel employees have been working around the clock to restore service when disruptions have occurred,” said president and CEO Ron Styles, in an announcement on Monday. “I’d like to thank our customers for their patience and understanding during this time, and I’d also like to thank our employees for their hard work and dedication to maintaining SaskTel services for our customers.”
So far this spring there have been 14 incidents in the Regina, Saskatoon, Prince Albert and Swift Current areas where flooding has disrupted service on a major cable route. In all instances, the outages were a result of SaskTel pedestals being submerged in farmer’s fields, and the company resolved these outages by laying temporary cable, plowing cable around the flooding, or draining water away from the pedestals.
SaskTel said that it will continue to work with the Saskatchewan Watershed Authority, SaskEMO and other provincial and local organizations and municipalities to monitor flooding conditions across the province and protect SaskTel’s infrastructure. If disruptions occur in flooded areas, SaskTel crews will restore service as quickly as possible.