Deluge floods Chatham area

Those wishing for rain certainly got it over the weekend. Although it may have depended where you live.

After an extremely hot and dry week, heavy precipitation drenched Chatham-kent on Saturday, flooding basements, roads and fields in certain areas.

However, the actual amount that fell varied widely throughout the municipality.

Tim Dick, the municipality’s director of drainage, asset and waste management, called the precipitation “very hit and miss” in that regard.

He said amounts ranging from an inch and a half to five inches were recorded.

“Even a variation here within Chatham,” Dick said on Monday. “Between a few blocks west of Queen Street I measured two and a half inches, and a few blocks east of Queen Street, on the south end of Chatham, someone there claims they measured five inches.”

He said it’s difficult to plan and mitigate for the sheer amount of rainfall experienced.

“Urban drainage was a challenge. Public works crews were out from two in the morning Saturday,” Dick said. “Municipal drainage-wise, all of our systems really performed well, all things considered.

“It was sort of the perfect storm in our favour. Active crops, extremely dry conditions and very dry low-level drainage systems. Lots of available volume and space there.”

In town, many homeowners still faced numerous issues in the cleanup.

Dave Constancio, owner of WINMAR Chatham, a disaster restoration company, said crews were kept busy due to wet basements, sewer backups and failed sump pumps.

Constancio said it will be an “interesting couple of weeks” ahead, noting that although the weather was good for business, it had an unfortunate impact on the community.

Environment Canada is forecasting a relatively dry week, aside from Thursday, which has a 60-percent chance of rain.

The weekend also has no precipitation expected, with daytime highs over 30 C.