Kristen Villebrun and Wendy Bush hoped they wouldn't have to pray for Chedoke Creek, but four years after they first raised alarm about the water's condition, they were part of an Indigenous full moon ceremony to do just that. About 50 people showed up near Princess Point on the dark and frigid Monday evening for the monthly ceremony, which was particularly special as it focused on Chedoke Creek. The body of water that runs into Cootes Paradise had about 24 billion litres of sewage and storm water runoff leak into it due to a gate being left open.
About 77 millimetres of rain fell on Ottawa in a matter of hours, according to Environment Canada. That's more than any other Aug. 10 on record, but surrounding regions saw even more, receiving between 80 and 110 millimetres. At the storm's peak, Hydro Ottawa reported 24,000 customers without power. Mycah Katz was practicing a drag performance in the basement lounge of his condo building when the power cut out.
Ottawa restoration companies are inundated with calls from households beset by sewage backup from Thursday's flash floods, which caused "catastrophic" damage to some homes. Deven Raval, owner of PuroClean, called it "mayhem." He said his company normally deals with five or so calls per day. But this has been different. "My phone's going crazy," he said, as rings repeatedly interrupted an interview. He'd already fielded about 70 calls as of Friday morning. He said four of every five relate to sewage.
“We dispatched staff from the Town of Innisfil to the impacted flood areas this morning to assist with diverting water away from homes and communicating with residents in the affected areas,” Nicole Bowman, director of operations said in an email. “Our crews are still on site diverting the water and we will continue to update residents through our website and social media channels.”
Heavy rainfall and isolated thunderstorms are expected to hit pockets throughout the GTA Saturday, which can bring about flash floods, water pools on roads and localized flooding in low-lying areas, Environment Canada warns. The federal weather agency says 50 to 75 millimetres of rain is possible in areas as far west as Guelph to east beyond Kingston. Heavy showers have already begun and are expected to continue on and off throughout the day, with a forecasted end this evening.
Prince George is the latest city to feel the lash of torrential downpours linked to ongoing unsettled weather across British Columbia. Environment Canada is reporting about six millimetres of rain fell at the Prince George airport Tuesday, but doesn't mention the localized, intense thunderstorm that deluged the city's downtown core, flooding several streets. RCMP said its frontline officers had to help after "several vehicles" got stranded in the water in the industrial area off Queensway and on Winnipeg Street. Four separate roads were closed as crews worked to clear the excess water.
Heavy downpours are causing flooding concerns for some Saskatchewan communities. Environment and Climate Change Canada issued rainfall warnings Friday for southeastern Saskatchewan and western Manitoba. The weather agency says a low-pressure system coming up from North Dakota is bringing widespread rainfalls of 30 to 60 millimetres — which can cause flash floods, water pooling on roads and localized flooding in low-lying areas — and wind gusts up to 80 km/h.
