It was an exceptionally damp day for many Charlottetown residents yesterday as a massive rainstorm flooded the city.
Streets throughout the capital were closed down as public works crews worked to clear the water and a number of residents in low lying areas experience basement flooding.
“It’s nothing unusual for me,” said Scott MacDonald, who lives on Spring Street. “It always floods here.”
MacDonald said the flooding was so bad on Spring Street that at one point Thursday afternoon the neighbourhood kids were swimming in what he describes as a “pond”.
“They were out playing in it,” he said. “They even had the dog out.”
But while he said he has seen his share of flooding over the years he hasn’t seen it as bad as yesterday since the early 1990s.
“There was water over the bumper of the neighbour’s van,” MacDonald described, adding his basement and backyard were heavily affected.
“My backyard was literally a pond,” he said.
Superintendent of public works Blair Kinch said he saw areas flooded that he’s never seen flood before.
“It was just more rain than the storm sewer could handle,” he said, adding crews were out from 2 p.m. until roughly 10 p.m., Thursday working to get things back under control.
In total nine streets were reported flooded including Reserve Street, Newland Crescent, Exhibition Drive, Fitzroy Street and University Avenue, Spring Street, Costello Lane, Grafton Street and Kent Street.
My backyard was literally a pond - Scott MacDonald, Spring Street resident.
That aside, Kinch said he heard no reports of basement flooding but expects the phones will start ringing today.
“I don’t think there’s much damage,” he said, adding he wouldn’t know for sure until today.
In the future he said there’s not much the city can do to prevent flooding outside of regularly cleaning the catch basins located throughout Charlottetown.
“We just have to make sure our catch basins are open,” he said. “If we don’t keep them open there’s no place for the water to go.”
