West end resident seeks drainage solution

As overland flooding continues to impact people across Westman, a Brandon resident is calling on the city to improve drainage issues after Monday’s storm created a “lake” in his neighbourhood.

Dwayne Stone said up to three feet of water had pooled on Lynx Crescent in the city’s west end within 10 minutes, reaching above the licence plate of his son’s vehicle parked on the street.

“We’ve just got it drying out right now, and we’re going to see if we we’re able to get it into the driveway. And now we’re just trying to assess, are we putting a claim in for it?” he said on Thursday.

Manitoba Public Insurance has received 30 flood-related vehicle claims occurring between June 28-30 in Brandon, a spokesperson said. The data is subject to change as more reports are made.

Stone said water accumulates in the crescent whenever there’s heavy rainfall because the area has a lower elevation compared to surrounding streets and the storm drains along Rosser Avenue can’t keep up.

His family has lived in the area for eight years and are frustrated with the issue.

Environment and Climate Change Canada said Brandon received up to 67 millimetres of rain on Monday evening in a short time frame.

Stone wants the city to implement a diversion at Lynx Crescent and Rosser Avenue to have water drain downhill to Fox Place Playground.

“If we could slow the water down or help divert some of it, then we would have a chance of not having this happen again,” Stone said.

“We’re just not getting any traction from the city to help alleviate, I think, a fairly simple correction.”

Fortunately, the family didn’t have any flooding in their basement from the storm, but that wasn’t the case three years ago, Stone said.

“We did a total renovation because we had a foot and a half of water in the entire basement, so we lost fridges, deep freezes, drywall up the walls. It was a disaster,” he said.

The renovation cost $40,000 and his house insurance covered $15,000 in damages.

In response to that flooding, Stone said he and his neighbour to the west signed an agreement with the city to put in a swale that prevents water from entering their basements by filtering any overflow toward the Assiniboine River and golf course behind their homes.

“Since then, we’ve had some minor flooding just because every time you get that severe rain, it’s very tense … we’re at the mercy of gravity, right?” Stone said.

The swale cost around $5,000 and the city paid for half, he said.

“But even with that, as you can see in the pictures, there’s still three feet of water in that entire area, so we are looking for the city to come up with a best-case solution for the entire neighbourhood,” Stone said.

Kyle Winters, the city’s director of engineering services, said he’s aware of the overland flow on Lynx Crescent and that water does mostly drain through the swale between the two properties.

“It is an area of concern for the city, but it’s maybe not as high of a priority at this time as some of the other drainage issues that the city has.”

The city hasn’t received any recent concerns from residents in that area and asks that if community members are having issues, that they reach out to the city’s risk management group, Winters said.

“If there is significant property damage there then it does bump it up the lists of capital improvements that the city does need to make to its storm water systems,” he said.

Winters said the city is focusing on improvements to storm drains in the southeast end of Brandon. It’s also aware of issues along Park Avenue between 18th Street and 26th Street.

» tadamski@brandonsun.com