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By Cam Lee

Humboldt Flooding Update

Humboldt’s mayor discusses flooding caused by Sunday’s heavy rain

Jun 15, 2020 | 3:00 PM

The city of Humboldt is drying out after a significant rain event on Sunday.

Social media posts from Humboldt residents showed some areas of the city received upwards of four inches, or around 100 mm of rain in about an hour and a half.

Humboldt Mayor Rob Muench declared a local state of emergency due to the rain, but told northeastNOW that will soon be rescinded. He said the northwest side of the city was especially hard hit by the rain, though there was some localized flooding on 2nd Ave. and 9th St. downtown.

He said the city hasn’t received many reports of flooded basements.

“We’re hoping that stands and we don’t see a rash of those,” Muench said. “We’re just waiting to see what type of damage was done just in case we need to apply for any kind of assistance on that.”

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The city has undergone several improvements in recent years in an effort to mitigate potential flood damage in cases of sudden rainstorms. Muench said he shudders to think of what the damage would have looked like before those improvements were made. He said the retention pond in Centennial Park that took the heat off 17th St. near the Uniplex has helped reduce the flood risks in that area.

“That basically took some of the heat off of areas like Barnes Cres. and Thompson Dr. in the northwest corner,” Muench said. “We did have 16th St. and a number of other places flood.”

He explained the system is designed for the water to accumulate on the roads, and drain off as the system catches up. He added that worked out okay, but there is work to do in the coming years to alleviate some of the issues.

“As you make those improvements, the costs and the difficulty gets higher and higher,” Muench said. “We’ve tried to do the stuff that was a little easier and a little less expensive to do over the years, but there [are] some projects that are going to take time and energy to get completed.”

The city also installed a ‘superpipe’ several years ago to alleviate the pressure on the lift station at 16th St. and 9th Ave. He added it may not matter what storm system is in place when a community gets that much rain falling in that short of timeframe.

Muench urged residents who have been affected by flooding to reach out to City Hall, but he said they have not had many calls as of yet.

A number of pictures and videos have surfaced of people in kayaks or just walking in the floodwater. Muench did express concern about the number of people in the retention pond along Centennial Park, as the water can be deep.

“It’s probably best not to have people in those areas,” Muench said. He added when a system gets backed up, there can be back pressure that can blow manholes off.

Muench also reminded residents not to drive through deep floodwater, and to mind their speed as the waves created by the vehicles can lead to people’s basements being flooded.

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cam.lee@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @camlee1974