Towns drenched in downpour

Backed up storm-systems and streams of rainwater had Black Diamond and Turner Valley residents, town crews and emergency services in a frenzy Friday.

Both towns were hit by heavy rain and hail shortly after 10 a.m. At about 10:30 a.m., Mel McKee received a phone call from her nanny informing her that a river of water was running through her back yard.

McKee, who works at the Millarville Race Track about 10 minutes away, hopped in her vehicle and rushed home to Turner Valley where she and two neighbours dug a trench along the side of her house to prevent water from flooding her basement.

“The water came from the alley into my yard,” she said. “It was about six inches deep.”

Residents say the heavy rain, intermixed with pea-sized hail, lasted about 45 minutes.

Ray MacGregor was at work at Motorrad Performance when the rain began. Employees and customers quickly moved motorcycles from outside into the shop. Within minutes, several millimetres of hail and rain several feet wide ran through his property from a culvert on Highway 22. When the rain subsided, the senior manager got to work cleaning it up.

“We've been shoveling hail for the last hour,” he said at around noon. “This is the first major hail storm this year.”

Motorists and residents in Black Diamond also faced issues of water-logged streets and slow-draining storm systems.

The Black Diamond Fire Department closed Highway 22 south of the four-way stop for an hour due to flooding.

Fire chief Jamie Campbell said the water was two feet deep and the department blocked the highway to prevent motorists from driving through and stalling their vehicles.

“It was too much rain, too much hail,” said Campbell. “The storm system couldn't keep up. It was too much water all at once.”

Once the highway reopened, Black Diamond firefighters headed west to Turner Valley to deal with a backed up storm system in Seclusion Valley where firefighters had to pump the water into the Sheep River.

Both fire departments, as well as public works, were busy dealing with other areas that had flooded throughout Turner Valley.

Chief administrative officer Barry Williamson said there was a lot of surface flooding throughout the community resulting in storm and sewer water management issues.

“In a lot of cases water was headed to basement walls and under decks,” he said. “Some of it you can’t do anything about. It’s so much heavy rainfall in a short period of time.”

Some of the areas impacted include Country Meadows, Seclusion Valley, the Flare “n’ Derrick Community Hall and the Sheep River Library, said Williamson.

He said the Town is still assessing the areas that were impacted.

“It looks like there might be some sewage backup issues,” he said. “We’re trying to figure out what caused that.”

Williamson said public works and the emergency crews were quick to react.

“Our operations crew did a pretty quick turnaround response, which we are quite proud of,” he said. “Most of our emergency crews were out doing a lot of response and assistance as well. It was very well organized and a quick response, which speaks to our preparedness for these kinds of things.”

With more rain in the forecast, Williamson said the Town is on alert.

“We are going to be on standby tonight just in case,” he said. “The forecast doesn’t look good.”

Williamson asks residents to avoid flushing or running water until the situation improves after storm water or sewer back-ups that can result the type of storms seen today.

Irwan Marroc said his home on Windsor Avenue stayed dry during the 45-minute weather event.

He had been preparing to load his truck for a camping trip when the rain started.

“It was flowing down pretty hard where they are doing the construction (on Windsor Avenue) and then it started hailing,” he said. “It was accumulating around the house, but the basement is fine.”