After intense rainfall throughout London and Middlesex County, the city and residents are responding to flooding throughout the community Thursday.
Environment Canada is reporting that from Tuesday through Thursday morning, 120 mm of rain was recorded at London International Airport.
“Wednesday we got 67 mm and that broke the old record of 54.2 mm set back in 1996,” said Environment Canada meteorologist Gerald Cheng.
Cheng said people should still expect some showers over the next few days, but “the big rains are behind us,” as the area finishes off the rest of the month.
Cheng reports the area has seen about 157.6 mm of rain this September, compared to normal rainfall of about 103 mm.
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The heavy rainfall also created issues throughout the City of London when it came to flooding.
“We have logged about 130 basement flooding complaints so far. Typically in a month we would see about 30, so we are looking at about four months worth of basement flooding complaints in one evening,” said Ashley Rammeloo, City of London division manager of sewer engineering.
Rammeloo is encouraging people to report flooding to the city so they can track trends and ensure residents have access to resources like the city’s Basement Flooding Grant Program.
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The basement flooding grant program gives homeowners money to install sump pumps in some situations to decrease their risk of basement flooding.
Rammeloo said surface water does seem to be receding, but it’s hard to say when the levels will be back to normal.
Seth Meeker, who rents a home in North London near Maitland and Grosvenor streets, said due to the rainfall, he and his roommate were ankle-deep in water trying to clean out their basement.
Meeker said this is the first time in years they have had issues with flooding, but the heavy rain had them working to soak up the water throughout the night.
“Over the course of three or four hours, it started getting really bad and throughout the entire basement,” Meeker said.
He said they do have a sump pump, but the rain was too much for it to handle.
Meanwhile, Western University reported Thursday that floodwaters were continuing to impact the Medway, Chemistry, and Talbot parking lots and that cars in those areas needed to be removed.
The Upper Thames River Conservation Authority (UTRCA) reports that much of the North Thames River watershed and South Thames received large amounts of rain, causing rising water levels.
Ditches, creeks and streams rose Wednesday, and the conservation authority reports many banks are at capacity or overflowing.
Many low-lying areas and parklands are being inundated, such as the St. Marys Flats, as well as Harris and Gibbons parks in London.
The UTRCA’s flood-control reservoirs at Fanshawe in London, Wildwood in St. Marys and Pittock in Woodstock Conservation Areas are in operation to reduce downstream flooding.
The conservation authority is reminding the public to exercise extreme caution and stay away from all watercourses, as well as to avoid driving through any flooded roadways or walk into flooded areas.
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