Portions of Stony Plain, Alta. were once again under water Monday night as a summer storm rolled through the city.
Heavy rain and hail hit the community west of Edmonton around the supper hour and led to flooding on area streets, parks and in people’s homes.
Dena Woods, who lives in The Glens area, said the rain started just after 6:30 p.m. The heavy rain and hail led to flooding at the nearby Stony Plain Central school yard, with water flowing through the park and nearby streets for hours.
Stony Plain resident Amanda Dea said her basement took on about four inches of water during the storm eight days ago. She was forced to pull out the flooring and was just about finished cleaning up from the flood when Monday’s storm hit.
“Last night it rained again — same amount. Only this time the storm system backed up even more,” she explained.
“We’ve now had to pull 24 inches off of the drywall all the way around… We’ll cry later because there’s no point in doing it now. It was devastating.”
Watch below: A torrential downpour has flooded homes in Stony Plain for the second time in a little more than a week. Fletcher Kent spoke with the town and homeowners about the drainage plan and flood impact.
Dea has lived in the neighbourhood for 16 years, and has been in her current home for nine years. She said they’ve seen heavy rain like this in year’s past, but never the flooding they’ve seen in the past couple of weeks.
“My concern is the town doesn’t seem to be answering questions about why this is happening, because it never used to happen before,” she explained. “We’re not getting answers back from the town beyond, ‘fill out a claim form.’
“I’d like to hear about what the plan is going forward. Because what I’m more concerned about is if we fixed all this and next July the same thing happens again because they didn’t fix the sewers.”
According to Environment Canada, the Stony Plain area received upwards of 20 to 25 millimetres of rain on Monday.
Officials with the town called both storms a one-in-100-year event, and the town’s drainage system isn’t equipped to handle these types of events. They are looking at ways to improve the system, but nothing has been approved yet.
Elsewhere in the city, a group of kids chose to make the most of the situation, paddling a canoe through Lions Park in downtown Stony Plain.
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