In the past three days, Nanaimo saw five to six inches of rain. With a storm flooding roads around Vancouver Island, some residents are concerned that they’ll have to prepare for the worse.
“Fortunately storm drainage systems are in very good shape,” said Director of Public Works, John Elliot. “Over the years we’ve improved the pinch points to them and got the system in very good ‘nick. Through the summer our staff go around to the critical areas and make sure that they’re in good shape and ready for the storm season. This time around it was a little unusual, between Friday and [Monday] we’ve had between 125 and 150 millimeters of rain.”
Elliot says normally they’ll see breaks in the rain, but recently it’s been steady, with no gaps between the time they’d get more rain. He thanks residents for their patience and preparedness.
“We really appreciate the residents helping us out with keeping their drains clear and keeping their culverts clear of debris, branches, and leaves,” said Elliot. “If there is a need for sandbags, we’re at 2020 Labieux Road. We do have sandbags and sand— we just ask that you bring your own shovel.”
He reminds residents to check their emergency preparedness kits to make sure they have the supplies you need to survive without power— should a storm knock it out.
On Monday, there was a washout around construction on Bruce Avenue and Ninth street. On some low-lying Nanaimo roads, there was as much as six inches of water pooled.
“What we’re seeing these days is usually high-intensity, short-duration,” says Elliot. “Those can be quite problematic because the system gets hit very hard and it’s trying to accept all of that water in a short period of time. This was just steady rain for the past three days. That has been hard for the system to handle. Then we have leaves that have just fallen off the trees that cover some of the drains, and then you’ve got a prime flooding situation. Fortunately we’ve been able to get a lot of the leaves off before this weekend and that helped immensely, but still, it was a bit of a bad storm, and we’re not out of it yet— we’re still in November here.”
He encourages residents to clean out their stormwater drains of leaves— by using a rake or some other tool— so they can properly remove water from the road.
Anyone who is physically unable to clear their stormwater drain is encouraged to call 250-758-5222.
