Heavy rain, strong winds cause downed trees, power outages across southern Alberta

LETHBRIDGE -

Heavy rain and strong winds made for some chaos across southern Alberta on Tuesday.

As of Tuesday afternoon, between 21 and 31 millimetres of rain had fallen in the Lethbridge region since Monday evening.

"A single event is not going to be enough to bring our water levels up to where we want them to be," said Kathleen Sheppard, executive director of Environment Lethbridge.

But it did contribute to a number of issues throughout southern Alberta.

Winds in Lethbridge got up to 81 km/h, while open roads saw gusts of 90 km/h.

The Taber Fire Department was kept busy responding to a large tree that had blown over and struck a power line around the lunch hour.

No injuries were reported.

In Medicine Hat, more than 1,000 people were without power.

About 1,200 customers were without power in the Scholten Hill area early this morning.

The City of Medicine Hat says the rainy weather was to blame for the outage.

Fortis Alberta was trying to restore power to 1,700 customers in Coalhurst, Shaughnessy and Picture Butte after power went out for an unknown reason on Tuesday afternoon.

Fortis says a tree on a line also caused an outage for about 550 people in Lethbridge County, east of Coaldale.

While water pooled in areas, the City of Lethbridge wasn't aware of any current issues related to overland flooding.

Crews were monitoring closely, ready to respond to any issues.

"There are still lots of leaves and things like that, that can block up those storm drains, so if you see water starting to pool where it maybe shouldn't be, it's a good opportunity to clear out that drain," Sheppard said.

A rainfall warning is in effect for much of southeastern Alberta, with 50 to 70 millimetres of rain possible through Wednesday.

Some areas could see upward of 100 millimetres.

Sheppard says now is the time to check your property to ensure the water doesn't come in.

"Checking gutters to make sure they aren't full of leaves and getting backed up," she said.

"Make sure they are blowing out where you want them to be, away from your home. Checking that your sump pump is working properly."

Sheppard encourages taking advantage of the precipitation, including putting out rain barrels to collect it.

"If you have gotten a jump start on your garden and you have pots and things, make sure they're out so they can get that rain and they're not hidden away on your patio," she said.