Hydro working to restore service to pockets of River Heights

When Sheila Fenby’s basement began filling with water Sunday night, it felt like déjà vu.

Her Lorette Avenue home had managed to stay dry through eight years of rainstorms, but fell victim to June’s once-in-a-lifetime storm that hammered southern Manitoba. She chalked up that day as a “freak accident” and began working on repairs to her flooded basement.

She describes that work as “90 per cent done” when her basement filled with several centimetres of water from the toilet and shower.

“I don’t know if insurance is even going to cover me this time, because I still have my open claim from the last one,” she told the Free Press Tuesday.

“It’s been awful, absolutely awful.” she said.

She’s one of thousands of people hit with property damage, left without electricity — or both — following a fast-moving, violent and destructive storm that tore through a chunk of south River Heights and left its mark on several other parts of the city Sunday evening.

Fenby worries her neighbourhood, which has seen quick population growth via construction of infill housing, doesn’t have the infrastructure needed to keep up with the growing spectre of increasingly destructive climate change-fuelled summer storms.

“If this is the norm, financially, can (the city) help us rebuild our systems?”

“If this is the norm, financially, can (the city) help us rebuild our systems?” she said.

About 1,500 people were still without electricity Tuesday afternoon as Manitoba Hydro crews continued working to clear downed trees and repair power lines.

Although some residents were reconnected in the early evening, others were not expected to have power restored until sometime Wednesday, Hydro spokesman Peter Chura said.

Fallen trees damaged five hydro poles in a narrow stretch of back lane between Borebank and Lindsay streets at Mathers Avenue has made things “challenging” for the utility’s heavy equipment attempting to gain access to make necessary repairs, Chura said.

“The question is how to get the number of machines needed into that defined space to support those poles,” he said, adding there are more storms in the immediate forecast that could further complicate repairs.

The Crown corporation and the city’s urban forestry branch are working together to clear branches and fallen trees.

In the meantime, about 20 city firefighters spent the day going door-to-door to check on people dealing with the extended power outage.

“We’re already making connections for some Winnipeg residents that have been found to be a little bit vulnerable, and making sure that we can take care of them,” said Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service deputy chief Jay Shaw. “So the system that we’re using is working right now.”

The city announced Tuesday that Corydon Community Centre (1370 Grosvenor Ave.) was being used as a temporary reception centre for people who need to charge their phones or access free Wi-Fi. Mental-health supports, free water and snacks were also available at the site, which was scheduled to remain open until 10 p.m.

While suggesting it was “fortunate” to have warm weather in the city for those without power, Shaw urged residents to be prepared in advance for long-term outages in less comfortable conditions down the road.

“It’s sort of a new reality for our city to see these summer storms be so severe.”

“We’re talking about a severity here, and the complexity of these types of events, and how fast they’re coming into the city that they’re causing immediate damage,” Shaw said. “It’s sort of a new reality for our city to see these summer storms be so severe.”

Mayor Scott Gillingham noted Winnipeg is “seeing more intense storms” and pointed to the city’s $230 million in investments in separating combined sanitary and rain sewers since 2013.

“If we see repeated overflows and basement flooding, our city crews are willing to certainly work with area residents and business owners, property owners, to find out what the cause may be,” he said.

He asked for patience from those still without power or cleaning up after damages.

“I know this is frustrating, and I know it’s difficult, I want to thank you, residents, for your patience,” he said. “And my message is really quite simple: we see you, we hear you, we’re working on your behalf to get things restored as quickly as possible.”

At St. Boniface Street Links’ 24/7 safe space at 604 St. Mary’s Rd., executive director Marion Willis and her staff were left “scrambling” to find places for 18 hospital discharge patients and six other visitors to stay after the building, which is owned by the city, flooded Sunday.

“That’s what we’re doing for the next few days, just getting everybody out of there,” she said.

The outreach organization’s no-cost lease expires in November. The building was in bad shape even before the flooding, Willis said, and she’d like to see the city step in and pay for necessary repairs.

“It really needs a few million dollars worth of work just to bring it up to building and fire code,” she said. “We don’t have that kind of money.”

“We see you, we hear you, we’re working on your behalf to get things restored as quickly as possible.”

Environment and Climate Change Canada’s rainfall gauge at The Forks recorded 66.1 millimeters of rain Sunday.

“It was definitely a wet weekend — unfortunately, it wasn’t the long weekend many of us were hoping for,” Environment Canada meteorologist Keane Kokolsky said.

There had been no reports of tornadoes touching down as of Tuesday morning, he said.

Since Sunday, Winnipeg’s 311 service has received a surge of calls, including 87 reports of fallen, damaged or hazardous trees or branches, 62 reports of plugged catch basins, 62 reports of raw sewage backups, 29 reports of clean water sewer backups, 12 reports of malfunctioning traffic signals; six reports of street debris and two reports of basement flooding.

— with files from Scott Billeck

malak.abas@freepress.mb.ca