Rain overwhelmed Steinbach’s pumping stations, flooded roads

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This article was published 25/07/2012 (5153 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Three inches of rain hit Steinbach in an hour overnight, overwhelming the southern Manitoba city’s pumping stations and flooding major roads and a few basements.

“It rained a lot,” said Steinbach Mayor Chris Goertzen. “Every system was tested to capacity.” Flood mitigation efforts put in place after the flood of 2002 — when six inches of rain fell in two hours — prevented the deluge from causing major damage, said Goertzen.

Today, the alarm went off at one of Steinbach’s pumping stations at 4:30 this morning, said city Water Works lead hand, Andy Froese.

“There was too much water coming too fast,” he said.

This morning, many streets were flooded there, and some motorists were stranded on Brandt Street when they stalled in water halfway up their doors.

“One guy had to crawl out his window,” said Nikki Friesen who watched the water rise from her job at the Co-op gas bar on Brandt Street.

Motorists in cars travelling down Brandt Street stalled in water almost up to their windows, while large trucks barrelled by, swamping those left in their wake. Dan Charette was on his way to his job at Loewen Windows when his 2005 Mazda was swamped.

“It’s going to be a writeoff,” he said after bailing out the stalled car with a big cardboard coffee cup.

“Good old Tim Hortons,” Charette said sadly.

The water had receded by 8 a.m. and the streets are again passable.

It’s still cloudy in Steinbach, however, things should continue to dry up there as sunshine returns later in the morning.

The rain is moving toward Winnipeg, and showers are expected this afternoon. The high today is 25 C in the provincial capital.

More rain is in the forecast overnight and into Thursday.

But Friday is expected to be sunny, with a high of 26 C. And both Saturday and Sunday look to be sunny, with temperatures of around 24 C and 29 C, respectively.

The bright, warm days continue early next week as well.