Month’s worth of rain falls on Waterloo Region; WRPS report collision numbers

Waterloo Region was swamped by a deluge of rain on Tuesday, with flooding reported on roadways, in parks and on private properties.

Waterloo Regional Police Service (WRPS) confirm to CityNews 570 there were 18 collisions Tuesday, five of which involved injuries.

As for the rain itself, 570’s Meteorologist Jill Taylor said over the past two days, about 86 mm of rain has fallen, with some areas seeing more.

When you put that into perspective, that is about a month’s worth of rain.

“The average is about 200 mm of rain for June, July and August. Some areas have already had about 100 mm of rain, some areas more than that,” she said.

Taylor added, the average thunderstorm delivers around 25 mm of rain.

During the downpour, roads were flooded right across the region, with cars and buses having a hard time getting through.

This included the River Road and Frederick Street area and Block Line Road and Courtland Avenue East areas of Kitchener.

Kinzie Avenue and Weber Street East also seeing some major flooding.

In Cambridge, Cherry Blossom Road was also flooded, in Waterloo, the city sent a message out, asking the community to avoid the Laurel Creek area.

Videos and photos of the flooding came into the CityNews 570 newsroom, with many callers saying the rain not only made it hard to see, but hard to hear.

The Region of Waterloo International Airport recorded a total of 65.7 mm of rain for Tuesday alone. Surprisingly that level is not a rain record. On July 16, 2005, 112.5 mm of rain fell on the region.

The Grand River Conservation Authority (GRCA) notes, water levels in the region are elevated, and the flows in rivers and streams are moving quicker than usual. It is asking the public to be careful around waterways.