NORTH BATTLEFORD — In a nutshell, if your basement flooded Monday night, you should phone your insurance company. If your street flooded, you should phone City Hall — or use their online service tracker.
The City of North Battleford is asking residents whose property saw flooding due to Monday night's deluge to contact their insurance providers. To report flooded streets, intersections or obstructed storm grates, the city encourages residents to use their service tracker, and city crews will inspect the surrounding storm sewers.
During the evening of June 13, the city experienced a one-in-100-year rainstorm over six hours, states a release issued by the city Tuesday.
“The rain gauge at City Hall indicated we received 10 centimetres of rain, while the Fairview Heights Reservoir recorded receiving 8.56 cm of rain. Current forecasts predict more rain for North Battleford for the remainder of the month,” the release stated.
During this period of increased precipitation, the ground can become saturated with water, and flooding can reoccur if it has nowhere to go. Here are some tips from the City of North Battleford to help keep your property dry.
• Extend downspouts at least two metres from your foundation, with a drop of 10 to 20 centimetres to the ground. Water that falls onto the saturated ground next to your home is likely to leak into your basement.
• Ensure roof runoff goes into your front or backyard and not your side yard or a neighbour’s yard.
Clean debris from your eavestroughs.
• Slope soil around your foundation and window wells at least two metres away from your house, with a drop of 10 to 20 centimetres.
• Check all drainage paths on your property and ensure they are graded properly and not blocked.
repair all leaks in walls, floors, windows and doors to keep water from seeping in.
• Turn off automatic lawn sprinklers.
• Make sure your sump pump (if you have one) is working. Sump pumps collect water in a sump pit and automatically turn on to pump the water out of the pit and away from the foundation. Ensure the water pumps out at least two metres from your house.
