City of Regina says system performed well despite flooding in weekend storm

It only really rained for a short time Saturday night, but parts of the city were still waterlogged for hours afterward.

Many streets were flooded, the underpasses north of downtown flooded and at least a couple of vehicles were abandoned in them. One part of the system was so overwhelmed with water a manhole cover popped off and water started spewing a foot or so into the air.

Despite all that, Kurtis Doney — the City of Regina’s director of water, waste and environment — said the overall system generally worked well during the storm.

“However, there were many locations that had storm drains that were plugged. When they become plugged, there’s nowhere for that storm water to go and it really does flood the street,” said Doney.

“There are some locations that the underground storm system just did not have capacity and that does cause flooding, including some of the flooding of the underpasses of Albert Street and Broad Street and Winnipeg Street.”

When it comes to the underpass flooding, Doney said the city is working with a vendor on a sensor that would tell when the underpass at Albert Street and Saskatchewan Drive is flooded, take over the traffic lights at the two nearby intersections, and keep the lights red to stop anyone from driving in.

“We’re still working with the vendor to work through those designs and figure out what is the best option to have them installed,” he explained.

To actually stop the underpasses from flooding, Doney said there is planning underway.

“But those are typically longer-term plans that involve significant infrastructure upgrades,” he said.

There were city crews out as soon as the rain really started coming down Saturday; Doney said they were clearing storm drains and turning people away from impassable streets.

The city has been working on its underground infrastructure, according to Doney, and he said a recent project in the North Central neighbourhood actually performed quite well on Saturday.

Doney said the city takes note of what happens in such rain events and then will use that to plan more work. He said it really emphasizes the necessity of investments in underground infrastructure.