The City of Trail says clean up following a major storm Thursday afternoon will probably extend into next week.
But Jared Miner, the general manager of municipal services, says no major damage to city property has been uncovered so far.
The extended storm brought heavy rain, wind, and hail. “We get a lot of debris loosened which plugs and overwhelms our storm and sewer systems,” Miner said.
City crews began clean-up immediately last night and are back on the job today, attending to catch basins to get them draining again.
Miner said downtown got hit hard including one tree that was hit by lightning on the Esplanade. Sunningdale and Glenmerry were also affected, and there have been a few reports of flooded basements.
He said it is hard to prepare for such events.
“You can’t really design a system to handle this level of shock load, so we have to be ready to respond given what it dishes out,” he said. “We had lots of good support to get it cleaned up, but that’s all you can do.”
Miner has only been on the job for a few months. When the storm hit, he was trying to prevent lawn chairs from flying off his deck.
“It was quite the experience with the family watching the winds come from an unfamiliar direction,” he said.
Nothing has been blocked off or closed as a result of the storm, but Miner asked for patience as crews go from area to area cleaning things up. Anyone with problems or concerns is welcome to contact public works.
The storm also left Butler Park waterlogged, but volunteers were able to get the field back in shape so that the U18 college prep baseball provincials could continue.
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