After heavy rainfall on Monday, many Saskatoon roads, basements and even a school experienced flooding.
The east side of the city saw the most amount of water and left some stranded in their vehicles.
Terri Lang, a meteorologist with Environment Canada, said this weather is finally starting to feel like June on the prairies.
“This season has really gone exactly opposite of what we saw last year,” Lang said. “(Last year) was really dry, really warm, and very little thunderstorm activity. This is more typical of how we have June on the prairies.”
The rain hit hard and unexpectedly for many Saskatoon residents. Water levels rose by not just inches, but feet in some locations.
Lang said the east and southeast parts of the city saw between 45 to 75 millimetres of rain.
Sam Krahn is one of many hit hard by the storm, as her basement is flooding and the park across from her street is now a pond.
“If we’re not getting bombarded with snow storms, of course, we’re going to have freak hail storms where everybody needs their siding replaced or downpours where you can literally go swimming in your park, you know, it’s never a dull moment with our weather,” she said.
Roadway closures have occurred across Saskatoon, and the city is asking drivers to avoid Circle Drive between College Drive and Taylor Street, as well as between Preston Avenue South and McEown Avenue on Louise Street.
On top of businesses and homes experiencing flooding, schools have also been hit by the storm.
Flooding at Chief Whitecap School resulted in classes being cancelled Monday, and families have been notified and have been asked to pick up their children as soon as possible.
People across Saskatoon are still assessing the damage and waiting for flood waters to receded, though relief is on the way, according to Lang.
“It looks like things have finally cleared up, and most of the energy of the storm has moved out of the way,” she said. “We are only expecting some light showers and thundershowers into the evening, but for the most part I think we are done with the event for now.”
Let the cleanup efforts begin.
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