It’s not over yet
Spring storm creates mess across Waterloo Region
WATERLOO REGION — Sunday and Monday’s untimely spring storm closed schools, disrupted traffic, knocked out power, and threatened blood supplies as donors stayed home.
The weather may not improve much. Rain fell hard Monday with the region under a rainfall warning. Snow was predicted to begin late Monday with up to four centimetres predicted through Tuesday.
Concerns include ice and flooding. Kitchener declared a snow event, requiring people to move their cars from streets by midnight Monday or risk being ticketed $80 and towed. The snow event is in place 24 hours.
Here’s how Environment Canada put it: “Standing water may be potentially hazardous on poorly drained roads and highways due to the weekend ice accumulation.
“Please clear drainage basins of ice buildup in urban centres. This will assist in more effective water flow and may prevent basement flooding.
“Localized flooding in low-lying areas is possible.
Keep children and pets away from creeks and river banks.”
Wednesday is expected to be better, with sunshine and temperatures reaching 7 C.
While it rained, roofs leaked at a library and a gymnasium in Waterloo. The city of Kitchener declared a snow event Monday, meaning a parking ban on city streets will be in place until 11:59 p.m. Tuesday.
The Waterloo Region District School Board and Waterloo Region Catholic School Board closed their schools Monday.
The University of Waterloo and Wilfrid Laurier University were closed Monday morning. Exams scheduled for Monday morning at both universities were postponed to April 25.
The A.R. Kaufman Family YMCA in Kitchener was closed for most of the day due to weather conditions.
Blood Services issued a call for help after donations fell 20 per cent Saturday when donors stayed home. The clinic hopes to secure 500 donations this week to make up the shortfall.
“I see it affecting us for at least the first couple of days of this week as people get back into their normal routine,” said Tara Gutscher, the local manager. “We’re just kind of urging anybody that can come in, to come in if it’s safe for them to do so still, because we will see the impact.”
Electric utilities reported that power was almost fully restored by midday Monday following various weekend outages.
Although flows in rivers and streams will be elevated, significant flooding is not anticipated around rivers and streams, according to the Grand River Conservation Authority. Major reservoirs have space to help manage run-off.