Thursday’s thunderstorms flooded roads in Peterborough and dumped large hail in Kawartha Lakes

Both municipalities will continue clean-up work during the long weekend

By kawarthaNOW -
Published
A flooded street in the City of Peterborough following the severe thunderstorms that swept across the region on August 3, 2023. (Photo: City of Peterborough / Twitter)
A flooded street in the City of Peterborough following the severe thunderstorms that swept across the region on August 3, 2023. (Photo: City of Peterborough / Twitter)

Both the City of Peterborough and the City of Kawartha Lakes are cleaning up following severe thunderstorms that swept across the region on Thursday (August 3), causing flooded roads in Peterborough and dumping large hail in Kawartha Lakes.

According to a media release from the City of Peterborough, the amount of rain that fell in a single location in Peterborough was what would be expected in a one-in-100-year storm. A monitoring station at Sherbrooke Street and Clonsilla Avenue recorded 66 millimetres of rain in an hour on Thursday evening.

While some streets and basements in some parts of the city were flooded, the city says much of the rainwater was diverted thanks to investments in storm water management infrastructure made over the past several years in response to the so-called “Great Flood” of Peterborough in July 2004 that saw more than 150 millimetres of rain fall in some parts of the city in a single hour.

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Also thanks to past upgrades, the city’s wastewater treatment plant was able to manage the greatly increased flow of water into its systems, protecting the Otonabee Rive as no system bypass was required.

While crews were dispatched throughout the city to assist with cleaning storm sewers and catch basins, the storm caused minimal damage to city roads, with mostly maintenance and cleanup required after the storm. There were 23 reports of road shoulder erosion and washouts, mostly in the city’s south and west ends.

The city says street sweeping to clean up following the storm will continue through the weekend, along with other cleanup and maintenance work in response to any new calls for serviceabout affected city infrastructure.

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In the City of Kawarthas Lakes, public works staff have been working to clean up the debris from the aftermath of the storm according to a media release from the city.

While city staff worked through the night to clear and remove all hazardous trees that were safe to remove, there are a number of trees that require attention by either Hydro One or a qualified arborist.

Hydro One has been working throughout Lindsay to restore hydro to areas of the municipality that lost power due to the storm. Clean up of the downed trees will follow.

As of noon on Friday (August 4), Wellington Street in Lindsay remains closed between Cambridge Street and William Street due to a downed tree over the power lines. That section of the road will remain closed until Hydro One removes the tree.

Residual clean-up efforts, including any necessary street sweeping and brush removal, will continue into early next week.

While there was nickel-size hail in some parts of the City of Peterborough, that hail that fell in Lindsay and other areas in Kawartha Lakes was considerably larger. People on social media posted photos of hail ranging in size from ping pong size to golf ball size and larger, with several people also posting photos of damaged cars and buildings.

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