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Downpour floods North Battleford streets

Jul 10, 2016 | 5:31 PM

A thunderstorm overwhelming North Battleford storm sewers for a short time, was just the beginning of a deluge Environment Canada warned people to expect.

Several intersections were flooded, at least briefly, on Sunday, July 10 after the storm had moved through shortly before 4 p.m. Drivers were forced to slow down to avoid creating the kind of waves that can flood basements. One hard-hit area in particular was the intersection of 13th Ave. and 110th St. adjacent to St. Mary School.

Dave Acker was one of the people trying to get the catch basins flowing at the corner of 15th Ave. and 106th St. by using gardening tools to clear up any blockages.

“Lots of times debris gets in there and plugs things up. But that’s about all we can do,” he said. Efforts were apparently successful, as the intersection was clear of water within the hour.  Acker said it happens often, but he’s not sure there’s anything the city can do about it.

The Battlefords were under a severe thunderstorm warning at the time of the downpour. A watch remained for the region after the warning ended. In addition, residents were advised to expect a lot more rain to begin the week.

A special weather statement issued late Sunday morning by Environment Canada said thunderstorms were expected to bring 20 to 30 mm of rain across a general area.

“As the low pressure system intensifies overnight, heavy rains will continue and could give close to another 40 to 50 mm of rain by Tuesday morning,” the statement read.

It went on to say some areas could see a 48-hour total of 100 mm, or four inches of rain, but couldn’t say what exact areas would be hit the hardest.

 

Geoff Smith is battlefordsNOW’s News Director, business and agriculture reporter. He can be reached at gsmith@jpbg.ca or tweet him @smithco. Concerns regarding this story can be addressed to Geoff at 306-446-6397.