Weyburn, Sask., to look into provincial assistance program after massive rainstorm

A late-night rainstorm on Monday flooded streets and basements in Weyburn, Sask., causing serious issues for the town.

Environment and Climate Change Canada said the local airport recorded 87 millimetres of rain, with other people in the area reporting 97 millimetres.

The wet conditions meant flooded streets in the city's downtown and residential neighbourhoods.

City manager Mathew Warren said some flooding was reported in city facilities and residential basements.

Warren said the city is going to look into the provincial disaster assistance program.

"We'll reach out to the province to see if we're eligible for funding to assist our residents for non-insured damages they may have to their properties," he said.

The storm started at about 10 p.m. CST and soaked the community until 8 a.m. Tuesday.

Meteorologist Brian Proctor said the province was covered by small thunderstorms on Monday, but that they were relatively stationary. He said there was a 'slack flow' in the upper atmosphere, which meant storms were moving at a sluggish pace.

"We often see with summer thunderstorms that they're very slow moving," said Proctor.

"If you got underneath where one of these storms was training across, or slowly traversing across that area, you picked up heavy, heavy precipitation amounts."

Parts of Saskatoon also saw heavy rainfall on Monday afternoon, receiving roughly 50 to 60 millimetres.

The City of Weyburn is asking residents to limit their water consumption to allow the water treatment plant to catch up.

Warren said city crews were busy working for most of the night, making sure the city's lift stations were working at full capacity to make sure the water could be moved as quickly as possible.

The last time the city experienced serious flooding was in 2011.

Weyburn is located approximately 120 kilometres southeast of Regina.