Sunday’s teeming rain set a new rainfall record, but that didn’t result in flooding in Maple Ridge or Pitt Meadows as it did elsewhere in the region.
“Wrath of God, how-big-is-a-cubit kind of rainfall,” is how district of Maple Ridge communications manager Fred Armstrong described it after getting caught out in the weather.
There was 48 mm of rain in 24 hours at Pitt Meadows Regional Airport.
The rain was fierce across the Lower Mainland, with the soggiest locale being White Rock, which registered 83 mm. Basements were flooded in South Surrey.
Maple Ridge municipal crews kept an eye on the areas that have flooded in the past, such as the north end of 224th Street, where the North Alouette River floods at 132nd Avenue.
But as Biblical as the rain seemed, it wasn’t prolonged enough to cause flooding.
“It was intense, but it wasn’t everywhere. It would come in bands and wash across,” explained Armstrong.
Last year the area flooded, but only after about 72 hours of almost continuous rainfall.
Crews will close the roads, have flaggers restrict traffic to locals only, and put stakes and flags along the ditches to mark the edge of the pavement so high-axle vehicles can still get through.