Heavy downpour delays plowing, fastball
By Denis Langlois
A heavy downpour Thursday morning overwhelmed Owen Sound’s sewage collection system — causing waste water to overflow into the bay — and created several brief floods throughout the city.
The rain weighed down a section of the Salmon Spectacular derby tent, forcing volunteers to slice holes in the roof to drain rapidly pooling water.
“It was just the fact that so much rain fell in such a short amount of time,” said Bill Douglas, co-chair of the 24th annual fishing derby.
The storm forced organizers of two national championships — senior men’s fastball and Canadian plowing — to delay the start of the day’s action. It also caused ceilings to leak at the city’s hospital and basements to flood in homes.
Geoff Coulson, a meteorologist with Environment Canada, said 26 millimetres of rain fell at the Wiarton airport before 8 a.m.
Moderate-to-heavy rainfall was recorded between 2:55 and 3:20 a.m., followed by a heavy downpour between 7:15 and 8:45 a.m.
“What you experienced was two distinct storms,” Coulson said.
The second downpour caused the most problems in the city.
The Grey Bruce Health Unit posted both Kelso Beach and the beach at the Harry Lumley Bayshore Community Centre as unsafe for bathing after the sewage bypass. Environmental samples will be taken at both beaches early next week to determine if bacterial levels are at acceptable levels, the agency said.
The rain quickly accumulated on the northwest corner of the 30,000-square-foot salmon derby tent, weighing down a section until it almost touched the G3 Angler boat that will be awarded Sunday to whoever catches the heaviest salmon during the 10-day derby.
Douglas said the only way to fix the problem was to cut slits in the tent to release the water.
The downpour also caused water to rush into the tent, which is erected in an area that naturally slopes to the bay. Workers had to dig shallow trenches to guide the rain out.
Douglas said the storms, with thunder and lightning, forced most anglers to come back to shore.
“Our fish counts this morning were slightly lower than normal,” he said.
The morning storm forced organizers of the 2011 Senior Men’s Canadian Fast Pitch Championships at Owen Sound’s Duncan McLellan Park to delay the start of games Thursday. Rain saturated the infield.
Some games had to be played on the park’s south diamond to get the tournament back on schedule. Click here to continue reading.