Kristen Villebrun and Wendy Bush hoped they wouldn't have to pray for Chedoke Creek, but four years after they first raised alarm about the water's condition, they were part of an Indigenous full moon ceremony to do just that. About 50 people showed up near Princess Point on the dark and frigid Monday evening for the monthly ceremony, which was particularly special as it focused on Chedoke Creek. The body of water that runs into Cootes Paradise had about 24 billion litres of sewage and storm water runoff leak into it due to a gate being left open.
“We dispatched staff from the Town of Innisfil to the impacted flood areas this morning to assist with diverting water away from homes and communicating with residents in the affected areas,” Nicole Bowman, director of operations said in an email. “Our crews are still on site diverting the water and we will continue to update residents through our website and social media channels.”
Sudden downpours flooded parts of Ottawa Monday evening, leaving some streets swamped as storms rumbled through the region. Videos on social media showed torrential scenes in the Glebe and near Lansdowne. Marilyn Journeaux, Director, Water Services-Linear with the city of Ottawa, said in a statement Wednesday afternoon following the storm that the city was “not aware of any flooding occurring on private property due to Monday’s heavy rainfalls.” “Monday’s severe storm delivered heavy rainfalls in our city in a short time, posing a risk of overwhelming the city’s storm sewer system and causing flooding to nearby properties,” Jorneaux said. “In order to safeguard residents’ properties and address these concerns, the city has diligently worked on enhancing our drainage system over the past two decades, incorporating infrastructure modifications into its design.
Several areas of southeast Saskatchewan were ravaged by storms that toppled trees and grain towers this weekend, while others were hammered by hail and heat waves. "It started with some rain, then the rain progressively got heavier and it just went pitch black outside," said Brooke Hein, a resident of Wapella, Sask., located about 190 kilometres east of Regina. "The rain was like waves hitting our windows and the only time you could see anything outside was when the lightning flashed and you just saw trees bending," she said.
Severe thunderstorms and summer go hand-in-hand on the Prairies. And it's not your imagination that such weather events have been getting increasingly catastrophic over the past decade. In the prairies, the last few years have been marked by severe storms. Calgary alone has seen hail, funnel clouds and lightning strikes, with downpours that turned roads into rivers and stranded motorists in their cars.
