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Water safety warnings were flying and many Londoners mopping up after a massive rainstorm Monday, just days after the remnants of Hurricane Beryl blew through the region and left it super-soggy with area creeks and rivers swollen.
Monday morning’s torrential storm dropped a wall of rain – up to 75 millimetres were recorded in a mere two hours in some areas – that caused flash flooding in some low-lying areas and caused headaches for drivers on some streets, including in London’s new Adelaide Street railway underpass.
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The flooded stretches of roads included Oxford Street West between Proudfoot Lane and Beaverbrook Avenue, and Adelaide Street North between Central Avenue and Pall Mall Street, both of which were closed in the fallout.
The monster storm also temporarily washed out some businesses in London.
The Walmart store on Fanshawe Park Road West was closed because of flooding inside the store, a customer service representative said. “Every department is under water. We can only reopen once it’s safe for the public”
Sherwood Forest Mall on Wonderland Road North also closed temporarily, as a precaution, to get rid of water in common areas. No stores inside the mall were affected by the water, but the Food Basics outlet there also temporarily closed to mop up inside, said Pam de Burgh-Thomas, the mall property manager.
Elsewhere, overwhelmed storm sewers and drains caused troubles for drivers, pedestrians and residents, including in west-end Byron where a large tree toppled across a driveway off a stretch of Commissioners Road West that looked more like a creek than a roadway. “No one can get in our out,” Stan Squires said in an email to The Free Press.
Both the London-based Upper Thames River Conservation Authority (UTRCA) and the Strathroy-based St. Clair Region Conservation Authority warned against getting too close to swollen rivers and creeks because of dangerous conditions, including slippery banks and fast-moving water.
Water levels in the area drained by the Thames River are expected to remain high until mid-week, with more rain forecast in the area on Tuesday and Wednesday, Upper Thames officials noted.
Motorists, the conservation authority pointedly noted, should not try to drive through flooded roads.
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Upper Thames officials said they are controlling the flow of water through the Thames from flood-control reservoirs at Fanshawe, Wildwood and Pittock conservation areas to reduce downstream flows, and that discharges below the dams will remain high through the week.
Monday’s freak storm came less than a week after similar heavy rainfall deluged the region as the remnants of Hurricane Beryl blew through Southwestern Ontario last Wednesday from the United States, leaving many areas saturated.
bbaleeiro@postmedia.com
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