Spring thaw: Calgary crews working to clear flooded streets and sidewalks
The City of Calgary is facing a barrage of calls to remove pools of water unable to drain down city catch basins due to a buildup of ice.
Corey Colbran, manager of wastewater services, said on Wednesday there's a backlog of nearly 1,300 calls they're trying to respond to.
"We've gotten through about 300 of them and we continue to plow through those," Colbran said.
Leftover snow piles throughout Calgary are being exposed to warm days and frigid nights, which leads to the pooling water freezing and continuing to cover over storm drains day after day.
"The last year we saw something like this was 2018, so we do deal with some degree of this every year, but certainly this year is a lot more just because of the amount of snow and how packed it's gotten," Colbran says.
Calgary has about 60,000 storm drains.
"We do know we have some problem areas, we are working to get to those," Colbran said.
There are about 60,000 storm drains in Calgary which capture water off sidewalks, streets and roads.Dean Dolph, a homeowner in Rutland Park, says he waited more than five days for the city to come, all while watching the water creep closer and closer to his garage.
He says he was eventually forced to sandbag.
"(The City of Calgary) told me if it started to flood the garage, give me a call and they'd bump up the priority," said Dolph.
He says he's frustrated with the slow response despite the threat to his property.
"If I don't clear my snow off of that sidewalk within two days, I can get a ticket from the bylaw officer," Dolph said. "But because of the city's negligence, the sidewalk has been underwater for five days."
As of Wednesday evening, the large puddle remained, lapping at the sandbags because the street was still not draining properly.
If you have a drain that needs clearing you can contact 311 online, through the mobile app or by calling.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Cargo ship had engine maintenance in port before Baltimore bridge collapse, officials say
The cargo ship that lost power and crashed into a bridge in Baltimore underwent 'routine engine maintenance' in port beforehand, the U.S. Coast Guard said Wednesday.
A Nigerian woman reviewed some tomato puree online. Now she faces jail
A Nigerian woman who wrote an online review of a can of tomato puree is facing imprisonment after its manufacturer accused her of making a “malicious allegation” that damaged its business.
Far North police 'dispatch' polar bear stalking schoolyard
Police and local hunters in an Ontario Far North First Nation community have “dispatched” a polar that was showing abnormal behaviour and treating the area as a hunting ground.
Donald Trump assails judge and his daughter after gag order in N.Y. hush-money criminal case
Donald Trump lashed out Wednesday at the New York judge who put him under a gag order that bars him from commenting publicly about witnesses, prosecutors, court staff and jurors in his upcoming hush-money criminal trial.
Families shocked after Niagara Falls hotel cancels bookings made year in advance of solar eclipse
After having the foresight to book their Niagara Falls hotel rooms more than a year in advance, several families planning to take in the solar eclipse next month were shocked to find out their reservations had been cancelled.
B.C. rescuers face 'high likelihood' of failure to reunite orphaned orca with pod
The race to reunite an orphaned orca calf that’s stuck in a shallow lagoon with a neighbouring pod has entered its fifth day, and a marine scientist says the clock is ticking.
Video shows police interrupting auto theft in progress outside Toronto home
New video footage obtained by CP24 shows the attempted theft of a vehicle in a North York driveway earlier this month that was ultimately interrupted by police.
Majority of Canadians believe in life after death: Angus Reid survey
A new survey from the Angus Reid Institute has found that a majority of Canadians believe in some form of life after death, a proportion that has held steady for decades.
MyPillow, owned by U.S. election denier Mike Lindell, formally evicted from Minnesota warehouse
A court ordered the eviction Wednesday of MyPillow from a suburban Minneapolis warehouse that it formerly used.