Wet, hot Athabascan summer

Seventy-nine millimetres.

That's how much rain fell on Athabasca and the surrounding area in June.

That's also how much rain fell on the region in less than 24 hours on July 24.

Roads, fields and some basements became entrenched in water after the major rainfall, making the precipitation total for July 157.2 millimetres, according to Environment Canada data reports.

This month's precipitation breaks records as far back as the stations reports go to 2008. The average precipitation in July from 1981-2010 was 103.7mm.

Another storm on July 29 brought more precipitation to region, as well causing some flooding in the Town of Athabasca.

Some areas were hit particularly hard July 24, including Baptiste Lake.

Athabasca County Coun. for Baptiste/Island Lake Larry Armfelt said the muskegs in the west were full to the top to begin with, and so the huge rainfall had nowhere to go.

“When this rain started, it had no place to go but out, quickly, ” he said.

Armfelt said in about three or four places near his home - including two bridges - there was water coming across the road about a foot deep.

“Just luckily, and maybe good planning, the road base was hard. You could drive a truck across there and not sink, because the road bed was solid, ” he said.

Armfelt said a wet autumn did not help flooding issues in the Baptiste Lake area.

“The other thing, last fall we had a very wet fall, too, so by the time winter rolled around everything was already saturated with water, ” he said.

Environment Canada reports show last fall, through September and October, there was 92.7 millimetres of precipitation. The average precipitation 2012-2015 was 44.3mm.

Some area residents had water issues in their basements. Travis Shalapay said the basement in his house, 10 kilometers north of the Town of Athabasca, flooded with about six inches water.

“Unfortunately, when you see that once-in-a-20-year rainfall like that, the infrastructure just couldn't keep up to it, ” Shalapay said. “There was no failure in the system. The pump was pumping as fast as it could, but it just couldn't keep up to the quantity of water coming in. ”

He added having house insurance is very important, adding that someone was out that night to help remove the water. Shalapay said his basement floor drains go to the sewer, so technically everything the water touched could be contaminated.

The insurance company had to pull out all the flooring, take the drywall out to ensure the insulation was not wet, and any furniture that was not made out of wood would have to be replaced.

Shalapay said he knows of at least a half a dozen people dealing with similar issues of flooding, but maybe not to the same extent.

“Looking at the cost of what's going to happen to my house now, I am extremely happy I have the insurance I do, ” Shalapay said.

Source: Agriculture Alberta