Flash flooding hits Fort McMurray
Posted Jun 10, 2016 8:33 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
After weeks of hot, dry weather that worsened wildfires in the area, people in Fort McMurray may be getting too much of a good thing.
More than 45 millimetres of rain fell Thursday and another 10 to 20 was expected to fall overnight.
The rainfall warning was lifted Friday morning.
The concern from the province is that the rain has increased hazardous conditions by eroding soil around damaged trees, adding trees with weakened roots could easily fall and slopes will be slippery.
Country 93.3 and Rock 97.9’s Bradley Karp says there was isolated flash flooding in neighbourhoods across the city including Thickwood and Timberlea, which were already devastated by the fires.
“We had the apartment fire the other day and that knocked spirits down a little bit and I’m sure there were people who last night ended up with some water in their basements who, other than being evacuated from Fort McMurray, came back and things were OK,” he said. “That won’t be the case now.”
Much of the town is in the river valley but some of those communities like Waterways, which was the worst hit area during the 2013 floods, are bared off because of the fire so it’s not clear how much the area flooded this time.
“People are on edge, people are nervous and with good reason,” explained Karp, who added large smoke plumes this week nowhere near the city had scared residents calling 911.
Despite the rain, the government says people have to follow the ban on fires and off-highway vehicles as the forest is expected to dry out again.
