Major rainfall event causes flooding across Swift Current

“These showers hit some of the other spots, but they certainly did not come in with the vigour that they came into Swift Current,” Lang said.

A wind gust of 60 kilometres per hour accompanied the storm, which included some hail during the first portion of the storm.

Mitch Minken, General Manager, Infrastructure and Operation for the City of Swift Current, said the City was out quickly to try and turn motorists away from the worst flooded areas.

“Since I’ve been sitting in this chair, this is about the third or fourth one, and it looks like it was by far the most rain we’ve gotten in the shortest period of time,” Minken said.

“We try and get people out to block flooded areas as much as we can. Obviously, there’s more areas than we have people, but we try and block those areas so that people don’t go driving through and get their cars stuck in the water and they’re not at risk.”

“After we get that done, we’ll try and make sure that catch basins are clear of leaves and twigs, and they’re draining as they should.”

He noted that keeping people away from the flooding is their main priority in the aftermath of the storm.

“The big one that’s always an issue for us is trying to keep people out of driving through the flooded areas, as a vehicle goes through there it creates waves and just makes the situation even worse as it goes up against buildings.”

He anticipated when the final rainfall totals are calculated, Tuesday’s storm will be a one in one hundred rainfall event or worse.