Intense thunderstorm leads to flooded streets in Regina
A ferocious thunderstorm that pelted Regina with heavy rain, hail and a tornado led to traffic hold ups and business closures across the city.
The main issue facing the city’s emergency services was water backlogs around Regina’s underpasses.
For several hours Sunday morning, traffic was restricted on Ring Road north of Victoria Avenue due to flooding around the Ross Street underpass.
Social media posts from emergency services across the city highlighted stranded drivers among the city’s newly created lakes.
Environment Canada reported that Regina recieved a total of 17.3 milimetres of precipitation during the storm.
However, it wasn’t just motorists who were affected by the influx of water.
Staff at the Newo-Yotina Friendship Centre came into work Sunday morning and were greeted by a rude awakening from Mother Nature.
“We walked in this morning and it was just wet feet pretty much from the mess,” paramedic Rian Put told CTV News.
“Inside, we saw a pretty large puddle in the middle of the room there, walked into a couple offices and again, puddles in the room. Lots of mud coming up in the bathroom from the sinks, all backfilled.”
The flooding was a major issue for staff. Put reiterated that countless people rely on Newo-Yotina for clean and safe facilities.
“Our people are unable to access safe supplies for drug use, safe consumption site, they’re unable to sit and maybe have a nap inside, one of the few places they can use a washroom that they might not be able to access and have to find elsewhere for services,” Chiara Wolfe, a housing support generalist with the centre told CTV News.
According to Environment Canada, the storm that rolled through the Queen City is now well on its way to the east.
Regardless, Regina and the rest of the province may see more storms like it in the near future.
“Saskatchewan has kind of been the battleground for thunderstorm activity. So with the very slow moving patterns there’s just been rounds and rounds of thunderstorm activity,” meteorologist Chris Stammers explained.
“It does look like it will remain unsettled for the next few days although the worst of the weather is going shift into Manitoba over the next couple of days.”
For the centre’s staff, all that can be done now is clean up the mess and hope they wont have to close their doors again.
“Having this centre open on a Sunday is really beneficial,” Wolfe said. “It’s detrimental to have to close and it’s sad to turn people away but we ultimately don’t want people to get hurt.”
“People need it every day,” Put added. “They’re always gonna need it … every single day.”
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Quebec nurse had to clean up after husband's death in Montreal hospital
On a night she should have been mourning, a nurse from Quebec's Laurentians region says she was forced to clean up her husband after he died at a hospital in Montreal.
'Anything to win': Trudeau says as Poilievre defends meeting protesters
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is accusing Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre of welcoming 'the support of conspiracy theorists and extremists,' after the Conservative leader was photographed meeting with protesters, which his office has defended.
'My stomach dropped': Winnipeg man speaks out after being criminally harassed following single online date
A Winnipeg man said a single date gone wrong led to years of criminal harassment, false arrests, stress and depression.
What is changing about Canada's capital gains tax and how does it impact me?
The federal government's proposed change to capital gains taxation is expected to increase taxes on investments and mainly affect wealthy Canadians and businesses. Here's what you need to know about the move.
Bank of Canada officials split on when to start cutting interest rates
Members of the Bank of Canada's governing council were split on how long the central bank should wait before it starts cutting interest rates when they met earlier this month.
Pilot reported fire onboard plane carrying fuel, attempted to return to Fairbanks just before crash
One of the two pilots aboard an airplane carrying fuel reported there was a fire on the airplane shortly before it crashed and burned outside Fairbanks, killing both people on board, a federal aviation official said Wednesday.
Police tangle with students in Texas and California as wave of campus protest against Gaza war grows
Police tangled with student demonstrators in Texas and California while new encampments sprouted Wednesday at Harvard and other colleges as school leaders sought ways to defuse a growing wave of pro-Palestinian protests.
'One of the single most terrifying things ever': Ontario couple among passengers on sinking tour boat in Dominican Republic
A Toronto couple are speaking out about their 'extremely dangerous' experience on board a sinking tour boat in the Dominican Republic last week.
7 surveillance videos linked to extortions of South Asian home builders in Edmonton released
The Edmonton Police Service has released a number of surveillance videos related to a series of extortion cases in the city now dubbed 'Project Gaslight.'