More storm sewer drains were added to Ferguson Street in order to deal with continual flooding in the area.
There were some tense moments Tuesday night, for residents who live near the intersection of Ferguson and King Street.
A late night downpour caused some flooding along the street and sidewalks, this after the city just finished spending millions of dollars to improve drainage along that intersection.
“I was looking out my window last night and said, 'not again', after all that work they did, they worked on this for over a year and to see all that water was very, very distressing,” says Gladys Salidas.
She has lived next to the intersection for the past 47 years. Since building her home, her family has built up their land and added other improvements to avoid flooding in her basement.
Baytoday also received e-mails from residents in the area who are livid that this could happen again so soon.
“The entire construction operation was a failure,” shared Wesley Rozicki. “The city has flushed that money down the rain water runoff system.”
Public Works Chair, Chris Mayne says the city did identify a broken storm sewer pipe in a nearby laneway and that issue will be fixed today.
“This should further improve drainage in the area,” added Mayne.
He does sympathize with residents and says the city is looking for a significant return on its $4.3 million investment.
“In past years there was significant flooding to homes in the area, which was the driving force behind the investment.”
There are no reports of flooded basements and residents say it only took thirty minutes for the street water to drain, as opposed to hours before the upgrades.
Mayne says there was also three times the normal amount of rainfall Tuesday night, which forced the city to divert some of its storm sewers into Lake Nipissing.
