River (temporarily) runs through Wharton and Ness

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This article was published 12/04/2023 (1138 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A father and daughter made light of Winnipeg’s infrastructure woes Wednesday, after they woke to find their St. James neighbourhood street submerged.

Instead of frustration, Darcy McGregor faced the small flood with humour, asking his 13-year-old to take the family kayak out on the water.

“She climbed into it and I gave her a little push. She was overjoyed I let her do it. She said I was the coolest dad ever, and there were plenty of giggles,” McGregor said by phone.

“There are plenty of reasons to complain about city infrastructure, but I thought this would be a light-hearted way to address it and have some fun.”

McGregor snapped a photo and uploaded it to a Facebook community group. The response was overwhelmingly positive. he said.

“People were asking ‘Are you going to go fishing? Do you rent out kayaks? Do you have a canoe?’ That kind of thing.”

All jokes aside, the moment was also frustrating for some area residents, who’ve been dealing with spring street flooding near the intersection of Ness Avenue and Wharton Boulevard for as many as five years.

This season, it is worse than ever, with water as deep as 20 centimetres covering roughly one-third of the block, McGregor said.

Residents had been working to ensure the street’s gutters and drains were cleared in anticipation of potential flooding, he said, so whatever is preventing the water from draining is likely below the road surface.

McGregor submitted his photos and a complaint to the city’s 311 phone line.

“My bottom line is, obviously, it’s something that needs to be fixed,” he said. “I have no doubt (the city) would love to come out and fix this thing, but other factors make it more difficult.”

Coun. Shawn Dobson said Wednesday he has received several reports about drainage issues in the St. James area, and the city is working to resolve the issue.

Such flooding is typically is caused by frozen catch basins, but soaring temperatures this week are helping to alleviate the strain, he said.

Dobson appreciated a light-hearted approach to the complaint.

“I think its great that residents can understand and have fun,” he said. “These things happen. The city will get to this just as soon as humanly possible.”

The councillor could not provide an estimate for when city workers might resolve the issue.

tyler.searle@freepress.mb.ca