‘I could see my father’s urn’: Cemeteries experience flooding, sinkholes in aftermath of heavy rain

Grave sites at a north Edmonton cemetery have been repaired after rain washed away dirt and exposed part of an urn. CTV News Edmonton's Evan Kenny reports.

When Lori Matsen went to visit her dad’s grave on Father’s Day, she expected the rain, but she didn’t expect to be able to see his buried urn.

“I came to pay respects to my father, and I got here to find a great big sinkhole. I looked down there. I could see my father’s urn,” she told CTV News Edmonton.

Matsen visits both her dad and brother’s graves at the northwest Edmonton Holy Cross Cemetery each week. Two weeks ago, a deluge washed away the dirt surrounding the graves.

She could also see her brother’s casket. CTV News Edmonton chose not to show visuals out of respect to the families.

“I had a really good cry. It was not something that you expect when you go to a cemetery. Whether it’s Father’s Day or not is just a very unusual incident that happened.”

Within three days of discovering the uncovered graves, the cemetery did begin work to fix the sites.

Cemeteries around the city have been overrun by water after the most rain Edmonton has seen in June in more than 100 years.

“It’s an anomaly. This is the first time I’ve experienced this since I’ve been here as the cemetery’s lead,” said Darryl Tymchuk.

West Lawn Cemetery last week, for example, was completely flooded.

“It’s been a lot of work to manage that, with burials and people visiting the cemetery,” he added. “You try to play it by ear in one respect … We try to find the best way to the grave site.”

The City of Edmonton says that its cemeteries’ burial ceremonies have had to be modified because of the rain, but none have been cancelled unless families request it. It adds that no city-owned sites are flooded.

As the ground continues to squelch under Matsen’s feet, she hopes other families don’t end up in the same situation as her. She says she’s grateful to Tymchuk and the cemetery crews for addressing the situation right away.

“When we have rain like this again, they’ll probably come out and check all the graves anyhow. If it happened once, it can happen again.”

With files from CTV News Edmonton’s Evan Kenny