The almost unprecedented rainfall that fell on Stratford and nearby areas this week flooded basements, closed golf courses, shuttered at least one street and had city crews responding to several locations that were called into on-call emergency services.
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Jeremy Witzel, Stratford’s manager of public works, said the city saw 48 millimeters of rain Monday and another 42 millimeters of rain between 3:30 pm on Tuesday and 7:30 am Wednesday morning. That was after Sunday morning’s torrential downpour.
“We experienced a high rainfall level in a short period that we believe our system handled well,” he said.
Cheryl Farello said she wasn’t the only Glendon Road resident dealing with water issues on Wednesday. Farello was mopping her basement after water rushed in through the window well, and her backyard was also flooded. Farello believes the cause stems from the property gradation of homes on nearby Neal Ave. Heavy rain overwhelms catch basins on that street, she said, so Glendon Road homes absorb the extra water.
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“I had a similar situation last year at around the same time, and so I had a contractor come and and do fix some stuff, just so that the drainage, when we have excessive rain, would absorb the runoff,” she said. “If the storm drains are not adequately maintained in the city, it doesn’t matter what I do.”
In an email, Witzel said that this is a “private issue due to an obstructed private catch basin in an adjacent property … and the homeowner has been advised on corrective measures.”’
Golf Courses have no set re-opening dates.
At the St. Marys Golf and County Club eight of the 12 holes have been flooded over, with club president and general manager Matt Staffen, estimating that they have seen 12 inches of rain over the last three weeks. This is the worst flooding the course has seen in 24 years, he said. According to Staffen, the course reopening depends on when the Upper Thames River Conservation Authority lowers the Wildwood dam. He expects that to be on Friday with a few more days of cleanup after that.
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“We’re in a floodplain, so there’s not much we can do now,” he said. “We have good drainage systems underground that we’ve installed to help get us back open.”
In Stratford, the municipal course was closed Wednesday and may not open Thursday, while nine of the country club’s 18 holes were still impacted Wednesday, club director Rob Douglas said.
“We have reopening time schedule at this point, but the golf course is still under water,” he said. “Being that it is in a flood plain area, the land is doing as it’s supposed to.”
It will at least be a couple of days before the course re-opens, he said.
“It’s very frustrating, but that’s Mother Nature. She’s in charge, so it doesn’t really matter how much we can prepare. But this is just part and parcel of being an outdoor recreational activity.”
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