City of Regina provides update after heavy weekend rainfall

Southern Saskatchewan received major rainfall over the weekend – with some flooding in Regina reported.

Regina received at least 50 millimetres of rain during a recent weekend thunderstorm, according to the city.

The city’s director of water, waste and environment Carolyn Kilam told reporters Monday that the excessive rainfall led to flooding in certain parts of the city.

That included the Ring Road near the Ross Avenue overpass, which required the city to temporarily close the road for safety purposes.

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Additionally, with rainwater entering the city’s wastewater system, the city’s Garnet Street wastewater lift system discharged around 1.3 megalitres of wastewater into Wascana Creek.

“So, responding to a flooding event during a rainstorm with particular road closures can be very challenging because it is so dynamic,” Kilam explained. “Sometimes we do have crews that are able to go and actually rectify a situation, so that something that starts to flood can come down.”

According to Kilam, the city resorted to using its various message signs on Ring Road to warn drivers about the flooding under certain underpasses – in addition to other measures.

“We physically closed some of the accesses to ensure that people weren’t accessing the road and we also just liaise with our fire and protective services and our RPS to try and get that information out.”

The city says it is investing in its wastewater and stormwater infrastructure to reduce the possibility of these events occurring in the future, to the tune of over $240 million in the next five years.

Kilam also relayed that the city expects only a minimal impact from Saturday’s storm.