Heavy rain causes two flooding events in Moncton within a week
Monday night’s storm came hard and fast, bringing loud thunder, bright lightning and pooling water to Moncton, N.B.
It was the second time in a week the downtown streets were submerged in water.
“It’s what we call short duration, high intensity,” said René Lagace, director of engineering for the City of Moncton.
“The first event last week, we received about 50 mm of rain in a short period of time and last night 15 mm in 15 minutes.”
Social media posts showed vehicles of all sizes driving through completely flooded streets. By Tuesday, only puddles remained.
Lagace says while flooded streets aren’t ideal, the sewer systems are actually designed to hold water during heavy rain.
“The water’s meant to stay on the ground, on the street, and it’s actually to prevent some underground flooding. So, if you can imagine, all that water would have been pushed through our systems, then you have a higher chance of people backing up from their sewers,” he said.
Legace says the city’s systems are designed to handle a lot of water during a longer duration, noting the Petitcodiac River and high tide also play a role.
“When we have a storm event that coincides with a high tide, it’s definitely more difficult for the water to push its way through and that’s actually what happened on the first event last week,” he said.
The Moncton Fire Department said despite the two incidents on Oct. 8 and 14, they haven’t seen an increase in flood-related calls.
The city says plans and renewal work are underway to help prevent flooding in the future.
“We’re adding these storm sewer basins,” said Legace. “People might have noticed them in the east end and also south of Lewisville. Those are great examples of adding capacity to our system. We’re also redoing a lot of our older streets that have combined sewer systems, so it’s just one pipe that’s handling all the flows and what we’re doing is installing separated sewers so dedicated sanitary and a dedicated storm sewer.”
He says while the improvements throughout the city are helping, climate change means high-intensity storms are happening more often.
“The intensity and the frequency of these storm events is getting more and more,” he said. “We just had the event last week and we’re kind of just scrambling to get some numbers and do some statements and here we are again talking about it, so we’re definitely seeing the impacts of climate change.”
For more New Brunswick news visit our dedicated provincial page.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
DEVELOPING Israel launches strikes on military targets in Iran, escalating Mideast wars
Israel launched airstrikes early Saturday on what it described as military targets in Iran in retaliation for a ballistic missile assault Oct. 1, officials said. There was no immediate information on damage in the Islamic Republic.
DEVELOPING Scotiabank confirms outage for mobile, online banking
Scotiabank has confirmed outages affecting mobile and online banking services, according to a statement published to its X account.
'I did everything I could': Canada Post driver recounts helping save woman from fiery Tesla crash
Canada Post driver Rick Harper recounts how he and others helped save a woman from a Tesla that caught fire after crashing into a guardrail on Lake Shore Boulevard.
An abrupt goodbye to a guerilla goldfish aquarium beneath a leaky Brooklyn fire hydrant
A makeshift aquarium that popped up this summer in a puddle beneath a leaky fire hydrant in New York City has been paved over, to the dismay of neighbours who turned the area into a hangout spot and goldfish shrine.
Climate change breaks heat records across Canada this summer
Human-caused climate change made almost all of Canada’s heat waves hotter and more likely, Environment and Climate Change Canada said in an announcement Friday.
Mother who beat and starved her 5-year-old son to death sentenced to over 50 years in prison
A New Hampshire woman was sentenced Friday to 53 years to life in prison in the death of her 5-year-old son, who was beaten, starved and exposed to drugs before his 19-pound body was found buried in a Massachusetts park in 2021.
'Get away from your inner circle': Liberal MP 'shocked' PM didn't take more time to reflect on calls to resign
Longtime Liberal MP Wayne Long says Prime Minister Justin Trudeau should give more weight to the views of his backbenchers in determining his future leading the Party, rather than relying on those in his immediate orbit.
Mom and child jumped from a window to escape a Las Vegas fire that killed 2 children and 2 adults
Two adults and two children were found dead in the charred rubble of a house fire after a mother and another child jumped from a third-floor window to escape flames in a southwest Las Vegas neighborhood, authorities said.
Russian actors made fake video depicting mail-in ballots for Trump being destroyed, FBI says
Russian actors made a widely circulated video falsely depicting mail-in ballots for Donald Trump being destroyed in Pennsylvania, U.S. officials said Friday.