Officials with the City of Grande Prairie aren’t overly concerned about potential flooding issues stemming from melting snow during a stretch of above-average temperatures.
Transportation Manager Robert Carroll says with temperatures reaching as high as 5 degrees Celcius throughout much of the next week, some of the snow currently piled high around the city will disappear but he doesn’t believe it will cause any issue in the drainage system.
“I don’t think we are going to get warm enough to cause a mass amount of snow melting, we aren’t into that chinook effect,” he says.
“Obviously we are going to get some milder temperatures… it’s just going to soften up things enough so we can do some scraping and get the ice off the roads, the spring melt is coming, but I don’t think it’s going be the one.”
Carroll says part of the process during residential snow removal is to keep infrastructure like storm drains clear. He says, however, if one near you has been missed there are a couple of options available.
“If you know its a storm drain and it’s in front of your house and it’s covered with snow, you can do a couple of things, you can try and chip it off yourself, or call our contact centre and let them know, and when the time is right, we will put crews together to go around to free up these catch basins when we can,” he adds.
You can report a blocked storm drain by calling 311, or online at the City of Grande Prairie Citizen portal.
