Record-setting rain brought localized flooding and damage to roads and property

After a series of thunderstorms moved through the Huntsville area on Tuesday, August 22, culverts and storm sewers were overwhelmed, some local roads were washed out, sink holes appeared, and ponds developed where they hadn’t been before – and shouldn’t be. It left a mess in its wake for road crews and property owners to clean up.

Steve Hernen, the Town’s Director of Operations and Protective Services, said late yesterday that staff are assessing damage to local roads and advised people to steer clear of low-lying areas and waters’ edge as local waterways have swelled and may be flowing faster thanks to the deluge.

Several local roads were closed due to washouts: Highway 60 at Maplehurst Drive (with a washout just east of King William Street closing eastbound lanes), North Lancelot, Deerhurst Drive, Grassmere Road at Grassmere Resort Road and Williamsport Road. Crews worked into the night and again early this morning to repair the damage. Most had reopened at least partially as of this morning.

In a release from the Town of Huntsville this morning, Deputy Mayor Karin Terziano encourage residents to be patient as crews assess and repair the damage, “Crews have been out patrolling our roadways to assess any damage and are working on addressing priority situations first. Some roads remain closed at this time and residents are encouraged to check the Town’s website for a complete list of road closures.”

The Town advised property owners to contact their insurance companies if they are seeking compensation for damages as a result of the storm.

Several people captured video of the ensuing flooding. This one at Cairns Drive and Cairns Crescent was shared by James Speicher on Facebook.

That there was a lot of rain, there’s no question. Exactly how much depends on who you ask.

Geoff Coulson, a Warning Preparedness Meteorologist with Environment Canada, said that the rainfall in the area set new records for August 22, although the storm that brought tornadoes to Huntsville earlier in the month carried more.

The closest Environment Canada observation site is in Beatrice, where 46.3mm of rain fell yesterday, setting a new record for August 22. The previous record was 29mm set in 1885. Observation started at that site in 1877.

Volunteer observers in the Huntsville area reported between 31.5mm and 50.8mm of rainfall, with one reporting as much as 201.9mm. The Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry reported rainfall of 102mm.

“There was a fair amount of variability in the reports, but it looks like Huntsville itself or the area around Huntsville received the biggest amounts,” said Coulson.

Despite the consistently wet weather this summer, Coulson said that it’s difficult to say if it’s setting a new trend. “Unfortunately, with the way weather patterns have set themselves up in the summer of 2017, we’ve seen the areas east of Georgian Bay being hit by multiple events of that nature… There’s been a few very notable events and a lot of days with rainfall. The biggest single day of rainfall so far this month at Beatrice was on August 4, the day the tornadoes occurred around Huntsville. We had 73.8mm of rain reported at the Beatrice site just on that one day.”

In July, there were also multiple rain days that, when combined with the above-average rainfall this month, resulted in saturated ground unable to absorb the heavy downpour. “The ground is soft and really not able to accept more in the way of moisture, and then we dumped another 40-50mm from the series of thunderstorms yesterday and that just exacerbated the problem,” said Coulson.

The Beatrice site has reported 203.9mm of rainfall for August so far. The long-term average rainfall for August at that site is 87.7mm.

But there is some good news in the short-term forecast, said Coulson. “Now that the front moved through yesterday, we still do have a slight chance of some showers today but after that the weather is expected to settle down. Temperatures will be a little bit cooler than normal – in the low teens or high twenties – but we’re not really forecasting anything in the way of precipitation into early next week. So perhaps a chance for things to dry out a bit over the next couple of days.”

That will provide a bit of relief for those who are cleaning up the debris and damage.

Watch for more storm coverage on Doppler soon.

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