Clogged drains flooding streets and upsetting homeowners, drivers
Residents on a street that's flooded out thanks to drains clogged with ice in the Kildonan Drive neighbourhood are upset by how long it's taking the city to fix the problem — and they're not alone.
The City of Winnipeg says it's gotten nearly 300 calls about clogged storm drains since March 5.
"I feel like it should be taken care of, it shouldn't be left like that. We have to drive through it, my kids have to deal with it every day — it's slippery in the mornings," said Julie Racette who lives on Bredin Drive, just off Henderson Highway, and has been contacting 311 about the problem every day for a week.
She says her basement has flooded every spring for the last three years as a result of the clogged drains and she's worried it will happen again if the city doesn't clear out the drains soon.
"They're not handling it at all, they're doing a poor job of it. Like, they send the plows out, they plow over the sewers and leave it."
Racette says she's gone as far as heading out into her street with a shovel to try to break open the clog herself, but she can't find the drain because there's so much ice and snow covering the street.
And that's not making drivers very happy either.
"The road conditions down here are pretty atrocious for the most part, not only on this street … I live down the street down the back lane, and the back lane is just as bad as the road is here," said Erik Kaletzke as he tried to navigate the street this week.
"Lots of potholes, lots of standing water. I'm lucky enough that I have a truck to drive through with, but other people aren't so fortunate."
Frances Gumatay is worried she's going to damage her car driving down the flooded out streets.
"I'm always worried every time I drive on the street like this because, you know, sometimes you don't know what will happen," she told CBC News. "I don't know where to go because I don't know if the potholes are really deep and I might get stuck."
"It feels like it's going to break the tires."
Officials from the city say Winnipeggers can try to unclog the drains themselves, or call 311 to ask for help.
