A dry Alberta got soaked this weekend, at least in the Edmonton area.
In the span of 24 hours, parts of the Capital Region saw almost 40 mm of rainfall.
Between Thursday and Sunday, Edmonton’s Blatchford weather station measured 71 mm of rainfall, the Edmonton International recorded 79 mm, St. Albert saw 63 mm and Stony Plain and Elk Island National Park recorded 81 mm and 65 mm respectively.
READ MORE: Rainfall, snowfall warnings in place for areas of central, southern Alberta
In fact, the Blatchford weather station got 62 per cent of its year-to-date rainfall between Thursday and Sunday. Between Jan. 1, 2016 and May 22, 2016 it received 114.2 mm of rainfall. Between May 19 and May 22, it saw 71.4 mm.
READ MORE: 2016 to be one of the coldest May long weekends in 40 years in Calgary
Environment Canada said, until Thursday, the Blatchford station had only seen 2 mm of rain for the entire month of May. Since Jan. 1, 2016, the station had only seen 41 mm of precipitation, which is down significantly from the average of 78.3 mm.
Basement Systems Edmonton has received between 70 and 80 calls for flooded basements since Friday.
“With the amount of rain that we’ve had – especially since the ground has been so dry… it’s wreaking havoc with people,” owner Glenn Suprovich said.
He said about 50 per cent of the calls are due to failed sump pumps.
The water was rushing fast and furious in the Mill Creek Ravine thanks to continuous rainfall.
Environment Canada confirms this wet weekend has cut down Edmonton’s rainfall deficit considerably. Between January and May, Edmonton normally sees 124.4 mm of rain and we’re now at 119.7 mm.
However, since conditions have been so dry up to now, a lot of this recent moisture will become storm run-off and won’t absorb into the ground.
WATCH: Margeaux Morin has our weather forecast for Monday, May 23, 2016.
Comments