Rainstorm causes major damage in Edmundston

The mayor of Edmundston, N.B., says damage isbeing evaluated after a sudden and intense rainstorm hit the city Thursday evening.

ric Marquis told Radio-Canadawater levelsreceded on Friday, despite some additional rain, but Thursday's storm left many homeowners, and the city, with significant damage.

According to Environment Canada, at least 60 millimetres of rain fell in the region, but Marquis thinks the level of water on the ground reached 150 millimetres.

"We know at least 60 millimetres of rain fell in 60 minutes, but we are convinced it was much more than that," said Marquis, in French. "In the Saint-Jacques region, we had people who said there was almost 100 millimetres of rain that fell in an hour."

Marquis also said that they were lucky thatthere are no reported injuries or deaths as a result of the storm.

"We are talking about several flooded residences and roads being cut-off," he said to Radio-Canada. "Railway traffic is also blocked."

Jacques Doiron isfrom the municipal Emergency Measures Organization andis alsothe director of fire services in Edmundston. Heconfirmed the municipality was caught off guard by the storm. Environment Canada had issued warnings, but it was too late.

"The only alert we received was at 5:30 p.m.," he said in French. "We have a plan for facing these emergency situations but because we had no warming, our pumps were not installed. We will be verifying why we did not receive that warning."

Marquis said regardless of the lack of warning, with the amount of rain that hit the region in such a short span of time, the city's system may have still been overwhelmed.

According to the mayor, 110 residences reported sewer back-ups or flooding in their basements Friday morning, especially those in Saint-Jacques. By Friday afternoon, 190 households had registered storm damage with the city.

"We're in the recovery phase," said Doiron. "We're trying to fix the damages and evaluate the damages."

The Emergency Measures Organization is asking those affected to contact their insurance company as soon as possible to assess the damage, and to take lots of photos of any property damage.

A brief statement from the Government of New Brunswick issued Friday afternoon echoed this message, and said a disaster financial assistance program has been launched to help people, businesses and local governments that suffered property damage following Thursday's heavy rains.

Specialists are expected to be on scene all weekend assessing the damage.

The city also plans to organize a special garbage collection in the coming days.

If your property suffered damage, you can call Edmundston public works at 506-739-2103.

Damage to roads and infrastructure

In terms of damage to municipal infrastructure, authorities are reporting damage in four sectors.

There has been a landslide in the Verret region, between Philippe Avenue and chemin Rossignol. The culverts were destroyed.

Route Saint-Franois (Route 120) is closed in that area, complicating travel between Edmundston and Haut-Madawaska. A detour has been put in place.

Doiron told Radio-Canada he's hoping the closure is temporary.

Mont Farlagne Road is also closed to traffic. According to the city, it will be inspected before it's reopened.

A creek overflowed in the area near the Dodge dealership, causing Canada Street to also be closed to traffic. It has since been reopened but authorities say inspections are still required.

Finally, the culverts along Acadie Street are blocked by large amounts of soil after the torrential rains, and will need to be cleaned.

The cityis asking the public to travel slowly and with caution even if roads are open because there could still be debris.