INNISFAIL — This week’s heavy rainstorm initially caused concern for the town, but the municipality's stormwater system worked as intended and never reached its capacity, says a town official.
“I think the other thing is because we didn't get a high volume over a short amount of time,” said Ken Kowalchuk, the town’s communications coordinator. “It was a lot of water, but it was steady over an extended period and the stormwater system had the capacity to handle the volume as it came down.”
The town issued a news release on June 13 to advise the public that Town of Innisfail employees were taking steps to ensure the stormwater system was in proper working order. The release also offered tips to residents to ensure their properties were fully prepared.
Kowalchuk said town staff worked extended hours Monday night to monitor the system and be prepared if they had to react to a “situation” as a result of the heavy rainfall.
“They were able to stay on top of things. It never really got to the point where they needed to take any kind of drastic action. So, we didn't experience any kind of overload on the system,” said Kowalchuk, adding the heavy rain drained into different catch basins in town, like Dodd’s Lake.
As of noon today (Wednesday, June 15), Kowalchuk noted Environment Canada was no longer issuing a heavy rainfall warning.
“And so, we're not expecting any significant amounts of rainfall similar to what we've experienced in the past 24 to 36 hours,” he said. “And since the system didn't reach capacity, it will then be able to drain off all the existing water.”
He said there were “some big puddles” that formed around town, but nothing that would make a road impassable.
