Edmonton is seeing the wettest summer on record. Any future storms will add to the issues like power outages, flooded streets and basement backups. Epcor is trying to limit that damage and mitigate what’s happened so far. Craig Bonneville joined CTV Your Morning Edmonton’s Kent Morrison on how they’re managing this. This transcript has been edited for length and clarity. Kent Morrison: How hard has this been to manage? Craig Bonneville: It’s been pretty challenging. This has been going on for a number of weeks now and it seems like every storm gives us a new challenge. It went from June, where we had this long duration of steady events which strain the system to what seems like every two or three days we get extreme thunderstorm events that drop a lot of water in a very short period of time in different parts of the city, which affects our system in different ways. So it’s been a grind for sure. Kent: This has resulted in different roads flooding in major ways. Why is this happening? Craig: It’s a lot of different factors, but one of the biggest ones is that our stormwater management system is designed to handle typical rainfalls and even typical thunderstorms. But when we get these repeat events, all this water is falling on an already strained system and on ground that’s already saturated. The event that you’re showing here was a result of the stream in Mill Creek basically overtopping its banks because it overwhelmed that system. That’s essentially the creek there that flowed back down into Connors Road. Every day is a new challenge for us and we’re working hard to respond to these safely and keep the public safe as well. Kent: We’ve certainly seen Yellowhead Trail also having its issues earlier in the summer. As more storms come, because it’s only July, is it just a matter of dealing with floods at this point because the system is at its top level? Craig: Yes, essentially. In some ways, the only thing that will truly help us out is a period of some dry weather so that the ground can dry out and the system can, in effect, drain itself. The infrastructure itself has performed reasonably well in that we’ve had some subsidences that we’ve seen in the median on certain roads that we’ve been able to attend to fairly quickly, but the extreme events are just falling on already saturated ground and it just keeps straining the system. We’re on it 24/7. We’ve got folks monitoring and dedicated to the system to keep an eye on the weather and our system to make operational changes as necessary. But ponds on roads after these extreme events that we’re seeing are a little bit of an expected outcome of these repeated rainfall events. Kent: Is there anything that people in their own homes in their own neighbourhoods can do to help? Craig: For sure. We call that “community level flood protection.” That’s everything from checking your eaves troughs and downspouts, making sure they’re flowing well, directed away from your house. If you happen to have a sump pump, make sure it’s running properly and the discharge is directed well away from your foundation. We also recommend seeing if you have a backflow prevention valve or backwater valve on your sanitary line. New houses will have this; older homes may not. That’s a one-way valve that can prevent sewage essentially backing up into your basement if the system is surcharged. After every event, have a quick walk around your home, see how it did, and if you can make any adjustments to the drainage around your property. Kent: As we deal with unprecedented rain this summer, how would you grade the city system performance so far? Craig: I think the system, for what it is today, is performing reasonably well. We’re about five years into a 20-year, $1.6 billion flood mitigation plan, so we’re only a quarter of a way into that plan that council approved in 2019. We have a long way to go to continue to make our system more resilient. But in areas where we have done those improvements, we have seen the impacts of it and it’s better protected those communities.
