Heavy downpour overflowing riverbanks, flooding streets in St. John's area

Rainfallwarnings remain in place for much of the Avalon Peninsula on Monday as a result of post-tropical storm Earl, withoverflowing rivers causing flooding andblocking traffic in some areas of St. John's.

As of 5:30 a.m. Monday, roughly 175 millimetresof rain had fallen over the St. John's area since Saturday afternoon.

Some streets along the Waterford River are flooded, leaving cars stranded in the water. Traffic into downtownon Pitts Memorial Drive is being diverted into Kilbride due to water build-up on the road and there's a detour near the RailwayCoastalMuseum on Water Street.

Environment Canada says an additional 10 to 30 millimetres is expected throughout the day, but larger totals are also possible.

Around 11 a.m. David Neil, a warning preparedness meteorologist with Environment Canada, said the highest rainfall totals for the area had fallen in Paradise, where 207 millimetres have dropped since Saturday, and Pippy Park, which has seen just shy of 200 millimetres. St. John's west had 193 millimetres as of 8:30 a.m.

"We'll likely see that rainfall warning [continue] at least to later this morning and possibly through the rest of the day today," said Neil.

"A lot of the heavier amounts have really started to lighten up quite a bit. It's more of a mix of light rain and drizzle as it stands right now."

Neil said wet conditions areexpected through Tuesday but the heavy pockets of rain should taper off later Monday.

Floodingproblems

In Trepassey, on the Avalon's south coast, damage to the town's breakwater is causing concern for its residents.

Mayor Rita PennellsaidHurricane Larry, which battered Newfoundland one year ago, caused severe damage to the same breakwater.

"We were just about ready to start to fix that when this happened Saturday night," she said. "It's devastating. We have a loader down there now clearing it off, trying to make an emergency opening because nobody can get down and nobody can get up."

Pennell said there are25 homes and about 35 peoplestranded since Saturday because of the damage.

"If we have an emergency down there now we'd have to get a helicopter or a boat to get them up," she said.

Engineers were headed to the area as of 12:30 p.m., Pennell said, adding she's hoping there will be enough room for local vehicles to squeeze through within the following hour.

Meanwhile, on top of closing some flooded roads, the City of St. John's is closing public parks. Bowring Park is closed until Tuesday morning, while all of the city'sbaseball andsoftball diamonds, soccer pitches and football fields will be closed for the remainder of the day.

At a news conference Monday afternoon, Lynnann Winsor, St. John's deputy manager of public works, said parts of Southside Road, Water Street and other routes have been closed due to flooding, with an up-to-date list of closures on the city's website.

"This information is changing by the minute," she said.

She said some roads will reopen Monday afternoon but other areas could take longer.

As of Monday afternoon, Winsor said, trails next to rivers are also considered impassable. She said the Waterford Valley area and the city's west endseem to have received more rainfall than the east end.

However, she said water levels are beginning to recede, and city crews are assessing damage and cleaning up debris. She said the city hasn't yet determined the cost of the damage.

Winsor said the city prepares for storms as much as possible.

"We have a checklist, we go through it, we make sure we get as ready as we can be, and then we just wait and see what happens."

Keith King, owner of King's Plumbing, has a busy day on the books.

King was busy helping a customer keep the water at bay from their basement on Portugal Cove Road near Rennie's River.

"It's unavoidable when the river is overflowing. You can't pump the river," he said. "She got about a foot of water in her basement."

King said he gets a call from that particular home every year when the river overflows.

He said he had five or six more customers on his list after leaving Portugal Cove Road, all calling for help with flooding basements.

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