An overnight thunderstorm rolled through Edmonton, causing major flooding on roadways in Edmonton’s north side, including Yellowhead Trail.
“On-ramps to the Yellowhead Trail are actively being closed, in order to divert traffic and provide crews with room to work,” the city said in a statement issued Wednesday morning.
Initial reports from Edmonton police indicated there was flooding at underpasses near Yellowhead Trail from 97 Street to 184 Street.
According to the City of Edmonton’s Facebook page, the freeway was affected in both directions between 121 Street and 156 Street due to localized flooding.
When Global News arrived at the 127 Street and 127 Avenue underpass, vehicles were left abandoned with a manhole cover popped open.
The city says its crews are working with Edmonton Fire Rescue Services, Edmonton Police Service and EPCOR at various locations to safely reopen roads as soon as possible.
Some traffic signals are also experiencing issues, causing delays and disruptions, most notably along St. Albert Trail at 128 Avenue, 142 Street at 91 Avenue and 97 Street at 124 Avenue.
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There are warnings that significant traffic and transit impacts will be felt across the city, so commuters should give themselves extra time when heading out. Mayor Andrew Knack says it’s something he’s never seen living in the city.
“We’ve seen a really small concentration of heavy rain that is unlike what we saw in a long, long time. ”
Knack says a broader citywide program on flood mitigation has been in place since 2019.
He says council approved the $1.6 billion program for a 20-year project to make sure the city is flood-resilient due to changing weather patterns. However, he says we’ll still have instances of flash flood experiences.
“My understanding is that it’s still going to be challenging for low points like that,” Knack explained.
Edmonton has done a fantastic job of engineering it’s freeway system along the Whitemud and the Yellowhead! Who knew digging underpasses 20+ feet below ground wouldn’t flood, ever!!
Thankfully the City has reduced many of the feeder roads from perfectly good two lane (each way) roads to new “Improved” one lane each way roads with the introduction of traffic calming measures, (Re; 132 Ave).
The Cities motto on their vehicles is “Vision Zero”, I believe “Zero Vision” is more appropriate!