As Kamloops begins its recovery from Wednesday’s flash flooding, the provincial Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure says it might consider providing assistance to the distressed city.
Kamloops mayor Peter Milobar said Thursday that he had spoken to Transportation Minister Todd Stone, who represents the Kamloops-South Thompson riding. If the damage to the city is severe, Stone’s ministry could consider helping out, Milobar said.
He said it remains too early to estimate the total amount of damage done by Wednesday’s storm, which inundated the city with 25 millimetres of rain in less than half an hour.
The storm struck shortly after 2 p.m. and quickly overwhelmed the city’s storm drains. It turned streets into rivers, then turned some of those rivers into raging rapids.
“It was literally knee-deep in water” on First Avenue near city hall, said resident Jeff Putnam. “I’ve lived here since 2002. For sure, it’s the worst rain event I’ve ever seen.”
“I don’t think anyone’s ever going to see that much water come down First Avenue,” Putnam said. “It was unbelievable. It was amazing.”
The basement of city hall flooded during the storm, as did those of many residents. Others were stranded atop floating vehicles, and one boy was swept into the Thompson River, where he was rescued.
No one was seriously injured during the storm, which also brought strong winds and lightning. At its height, the storm had knocked out power to roughly 20,000 customers, according to BC Hydro.
Kamloops public works director Jennifer Fretz said Wednesday’s storm was one of the biggest the city has ever experienced.
"We normally have sort of pockets of rain events, but this was much more widespread than we've ever seen before," Fretz said.
She said it will take the city days to clean up the mess.
With files from The Canadian Press.
