Saskatoon homeowners can still take action to mitigate the risk of flooding even as the city is in the midst of a rain storm that could be the biggest of 2016, according to local officials.
“Simple things like making sure the eaves troughs are clean, making sure the downspouts are a couple metres directed away from the house,” said Jeff Jorgenson, the City of Saskatoon’s transportation and utilities general manager.
“Those types of things can be done pretty quickly by most people.”
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On Monday, Saskatoon was under a rainfall warning issued by Environment Canada. The agency stated that up to 100 millimetres of precipitation could fall by Wednesday morning.
John Paul Cragg, a warning preparedness meteorologist with the national agency, said the rainstorm was due to “an area of low pressure sitting over the province for a couple of days.”
“It’s not moving and it’s just spinning and dropping rain,” Cragg said.
Craig warned that “there will be embedded thunderstorms” during the rainstorm, which could bring about localized downpours.
“There is the potential for flooding events to occur in communities, but just in a very localized way as the system passed through because of these thunderstorms popping up.”
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If homeowners do experience flooding, the first thing to do is call an insurer and then a professional clean up company, according to Jeff Sereda, the general manager of Saskatoon Disaster Services.
“When water comes into the basement the main things you’re looking for are any sort of organic products that could start to mold once they have been in contact with water,” Sereda said.
“Obviously we don’t like to see people in different types of peril, but someone has to help them.”
Most people’s initial reaction after their basement floods is to get their belongings off the floor, Sereda said. However, he cautioned against that action because a rainstorm can cause a sewer backup.
“You’re taking potentially sewer impacted materials and you’re bringing them up onto other things that weren’t affected,” said Sereda.
“They need to be careful with how they’re mitigating their issue.”
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As for drivers, Jorgenson said it’s important to avoid travelling down streets that are experiencing flooding.
“Your car can stall, there can be manhole lids that come off in those areas too that you can’t see because they’re underwater,” he said.
The rainstorm is expected to conclude Wednesday.
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