No 'significant flooding' thanks to proactive clearing

Charlottetown public works is pleased with the work done by its staff to get street drains cleared in order to avoid any serious flooding Thursday night.

With a record amount of snow on the ground potentially covering up drains, weather forecasters were concerned about localized flooding and hydroplaning on roads and streets.

• Charlottetown snow records shattered this week

• Hydroplaning on roads a concern in evening rain

Sixteen millimetres of rain fell on top of the snow Thursday, but city public works manager Paul Johnstone said some precautions ahead of time helped avoid any significant flooding. Crews cleared catch basins of snow as much as they could to help the rain drain quickly.

"When they were in areas of catch basins, they could clean them off as much as possible," said Johnstone.

"Overnight we did get some of that rain and staff were monitoring things. Didn't really see significant flooding anywhere. There probably was major puddles in a few areas but nothing that we felt was really bad."

Johnstone said wet, heavy snow is better than an ice pack, because the snow will absorb some of the rains.

The P.E.I. Department of Transportation says there were no reports of flooding or damage. The situation was likely helped by the lack of frost in the ground.

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