Staff in the Town of Olds operations department has been kept busy over the last week trying to protect the community's facilities and clear debris from the a powerful on the evening of June 29.
Town crews were out cleaning up branches and other debris following the storm, as well as keeping the storm gutters clear.
“We were out picking up branches and doing things that people don't (necessarily) notice. We've been actively involved for the last six weeks with protecting the community from our sewage issues and overflow situation resulting from the major rains,” said Larry Wright, the town's director of operations. “Most people, unless you're isolated or see things happen in front of you, aren't aware of how much work all the public works and utilities teams have done to keep the community safe over the last six weeks. And that's the way it should be.”
Wright said one of the main issues that storms like the one on June 29 present is that foliage gets ripped from trees and then gets pushed to storm grates by water, potentially clogging the grates and causing water to pool. Town staff then travel around the community making sure the grates are free and able to accept all the rainwater that results from a storm.
A total of 26.2 millimetres of rain fell during the June 29 storm, said Ken Ryning, who operates a weather station at Olds College.
While the storm didn't last long enough for wind speed to be recorded — that's measured every hour — he estimated winds peaked at about 50 kilometres per hour, a “moderate gale” that caused trees to sway.
