Grande Prairie experienced another bout of flooding Sunday afternoon, after 19.8 millimetres of rain fell in just a few hours. RCMP had 100th Street at 97th Avenue closed to traffic at one point, but most of the water receded after a few hours. City transportation manager Robert Carroll says that spot is one of a few that are known to have issues during major weather events.
“Obviously that one on 100th is one. We have some issues in Richmond Industrial Park; there’s a couple of areas there. The [storm] on August 2nd there were some areas that came up that we’ve not had issues before, so it depends on the intensity of the rain.”
Carroll explains that when the area gets short, intense rainfall, the sewer systems can reach capacity quickly. While they’re designed to handle the vast majority of weather events, most of the City’s road improvement project include upgrades.
“You want the underground system to handle it all, but you obviously can’t design everything for the worst case scenario so you have to have some secondary systems in place. The more intense rain is having an effect on the designers as we’re upgrading our systems in the city.”
Carroll advises anyone who sees flooding on a road or easement to stay away due to several hidden hazards.