A large tree is rooted up and toppled over on Gershaw Drive thanks to the storm on Thursday.--NEWS PHOTO GILLIAN SLADE
gslade@medicinehatnews.com@MHNGillianSlade
The city says it had crews addressing rain storm issues until 11 p.m. Thursday and the cleanup began early Friday.
Parks and recreation manager Scott Richter says three trees came down at Echo Dale and another on Gershaw Drive, not to mention leaf debris and tree branches.
The campground suffered “superficial damage” and there was lots of pooling water that was pumped away, said Richter.
Municipal works crews were kept busy until about 11 p.m. during the storm, said Jeremy Petryshyn, manager of operations. Some catchment areas and storm drains were simply overwhelmed by the volume of water causing flooding in those places.
“Pipes in the ground can only take so much,” said Petryshyn.
Crews were busy blocking off vehicle access where roads were flooded.
Petryshyn says that on Altawana Drive manhole covers were lifting and police were called in to block off lanes of traffic to avoid these.
By 5 a.m. street sweepers were on the job in parts of the city where landscaping rocks and bark was strewn across roads. This is mainly on the Southwest Hill and in Crescent Heights, said Petryshyn. Crews will continue working on roads affected until the debris is cleared.
Soil erosion is also being addressed where rushing water caused damage to unpaved roads or unpaved areas adjacent to paved roads, said Petryshyn.
The west side of the city appears to have had more hail damage. Richter says flowers on Dunmore were affected and at the intersection of the Trans-Canada Highway and Sixth Street near the hospital they looked “beaten up.” Other flower beds appear to have been protected by nearby trees or buildings.
Crews were assessing damage Friday morning. After cleanup and a bit of pruning the plants are expected to recover, said Richter. The city still has some bedding flowering plants it can use to replace those that will not recover.
“We’ll make sure the flowers look nice this summer,” said Richter.
