Trading in their shoes for a pair of good rubber boots, residents in a west flat neighbourhood helped clear the clogged drains. (Submitted Photo/ Melissa Sugar)

By Nigel Maxwell/Susan McNeil

Summer flooding

City of Prince Albert encourages residents to be proactive following flash flood

Jun 26, 2023 | 5:15 PM

Some of Prince Albert’s busiest streets resembled rivers and canals on Sunday, swallowing up some of the smaller vehicles attempting to pass through.

Jeff da Silva, the city’s acting Director of Public Works, explained the flooding issues that occurred across the city, were due in part to the storm sewer system being overwhelmed but more so to the amount of leaves and debris that clogged intake grates.

Then there was the hail which seemed to go on forever and later resembled snowbanks on some peoples’ decks and backyards. Eastern portions of the city appeared to experience a lot less hail than those in the West Hill area.

“There were parts of the city that didn’t seem to have any hail at all. Some places were blanketed, and the rainfall amount also seems to have varied,” he said. “Unofficially, we’ve heard of anywhere between an inch and up to four maybe five inches of rain recorded on people’s rain gauges, so it definitely didn’t seem to hit in a uniform way across the city”.

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Going forward, da Silva encouraged residents to keep an eye out for potential problems.

“We definitely encourage residents to go walk down their street, take a look at the gutters and the storm drains and if you see any leaves or branches or anything like that, to go ahead and try to remove those and also maybe throw them out or if they’re compostable, put them into your yard waste,” he said.

da Silva also added staff will be doing some investigation into how well the stormwater system handled the sudden influx. Drivers are advised to go into puddles very cautiously as the water can be deeper than anticipated.

City workers observed in Prince Albert’s midtown neighbourhood. (Nigel Maxwell/ paNOW Staff)

Meanwhile. faced with the imminent threat of flooding, and unsure if the city was sending help, a group of residents in a Prince Albert West Flat neighbourhood took it upon themselves to save each other. Michelle Lesser lives in the area near River Park Funeral Home and informed paNOW the water was up to her fence line. All four drains along the street were clogged.

“Nothing was going down then. The water was just rushing down 12th St and 13th St,” Lesser said, adding she attempted to call the city’s emergency line three times and on the final attempt the person who picked up, told her the supervisor would call her back.

“He never called me,” she said.

So arming themselves with whatever tools they could, and wading into the thigh-deep water, residents worked hard to clear the needles, garbage and other debris from the drains.

Not everyone who attempted to drive through, was successful. (Submitted photo)

Water from the street crashes against a nearby house. (Submitted)

Lesser, who has lived in her house over 20 years, said she has really good neighbours and so was not surprised by the support. She added though it had to be done out of necessity.

“It was really nice to see people out there and trying to do whatever they could,” she said.

Melissa Sugar also lives in the neighbourhood and with the assistance of her family members, kept the rising water at bay.

“I think that the City needs to have more workers on weekends or for emergencies. If they don’t, then they should at least acknowledge the citizens that help to do their jobs,” she said.

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nigel.maxwell@pattisonmedia.com

susan.mcneil@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @nigelmaxwell