Steinbach cleans up after Friday’s intense rainfall

STEINBACH – Residents of Steinbach were hard at work Saturday cleaning up after an intense rainfall Friday caused flash flooding.

“This is not something we were expecting, the forecast indicated there was going to be rain but obviously it was much more intense than what we were expecting and it had a big impact on our city,” said Michael Zwaagstra, Steinbach’s deputy mayor.

Zwaagstra said 63 millimeters of rain fell in about 20 minutes around lunch time Friday. It left a major clean up in it’s wake Saturday as some basements flooded after their sump pumps couldn’t keep up with the downpour.

“I got up to the driveway and saw the water, I knew my basement was flooded already,” said Steinbach homeowner Robert Woodhall.

Woodhall instantly called his insurance company and by Saturday workers were already tearing his basement apart.

“The drywall, the carpeting, everything that was in here has got to go. The house is going up for sale, I’m done,” said Woodhall.

Woodhall’s neighbour also had his basement flood after his sump pump failed too.

“We had the pumps going, it couldn’t keep up, it just came out,” said Schmidt.

Schmidt spent his day Saturday trying everything to dry his basement out using fans, dehumidifiers, and vacuuming.

“There was about a foot of water on the street, the whole street was covered,” said Henry Schmidt.