Brandon pummeled by 77 mm of rain
CBC News | Posted: June 20, 2014 12:42 PM | Last Updated: June 20, 2014
Wheat City still assessing damages
Brandon was walloped by rain on Thursday.
The city received 77 millimetres of rain in a short period of time, leaving many flooded streets behind.
And it's not over.
There's more rain on the way with a risk of thunderstorms Friday and Saturday and more rain on Sunday and Monday.
Brandon's mayor, Sheri Decter Hirst, said it rained so hard Thursday night it hurt.
"You can imagine three inches of rain basically coming down in a very short period of time, so it actually hurt to be out in the rain," she said. "Streets got overwhelmed very quickly. There were a few basements flooded."
City spokesperson Allison Collins said the public works department responded to drainage issues across the city from late Thursday afternoon to midnight, from "checking manholes to clearing catch basins to running temporary pumps to help alleviate flows in the storm sewer system."
She said so far the city has received fewer than 10 reports of flooded residential basements, though that figure may change.
Decter Hirst said the water-clogged streets were causing traffic snarls Friday. And it's not over yet.
"All-in-all, we are a pretty damp city this morning," she said. "And of course, [there's] concern because we have more rain and thundershowers in the forecast for this weekend."
Decter Hirst said officials were keeping an especially close eye on the south end of city and low-lying areas that were evacuated in the flood of 2011.
Patric Pulak Brandon's Director of Engineering said it's frustrating.
"It's those events like [Thursday] that cause us the problems that do not help us with drainage," he said. "The water can't get away fast enough and that's where you get the drainage issues we had throughout the city."
Pulak said not many cities can handle the amount of water Brandon got in the space of a short time.
"Over all, the system just gets overwhelmed when you get an event like that," he said. "It just doesn't matter. We just don't design the systems for that kind of event and it totally backs up over time."
While the downpour is causing headaches, it seems to be falling short of a crisis for the Wheat City. The city said its staff appreciation BBQ is still going ahead over the lunch hour Friday.
Brandon way soggier than rest of province
Nowhere else in the province even came close to Brandon's amount of rain. While it seemed persistent and heavy at times in Winnipeg, the city only received 24 mm.
Emerson received 37.2 mm and McCreary had 26.5 mm.
Everywhere else, the recorded amounts didn't get any higher than about 16 mm.
Like Brandon, Winnipeg is expected to see rain and possible thundershowers on Friday afternoon, and more rain on Saturday afternoon or evening.
The chance of rain on Sunday is slight, at about 30 per cent, said CBC meteorologist John Sauder.