SUDBURY -- The storm that CTV’s Will Aiello predicted would hit Sault Ste. Marie on Wednesday evening ended up being what was expected.
Roads were flooded in Sault Ste. Marie, manholes were blown off the road and water was spewing in the air. A car was nearly fully submerged in the underpass as the driver thought he could get through the lake-like conditions.
“We had to close it about 9 o’clock, shortly after nine when the event came through last night and by midnight it was re-opened,” said Larry Girardi, head of public works for the city. “The work we’ve done on it certainly improved it, but again downstream, if you can’t receive it downstream, it’s gonna' cause some backing up and that’s what it did. “
The John Rhodes Community Centre’s roof started to leak during the storm. Also, with the amount of water in the parking lot, some started to creep through the front doors. Mayor Christian Provenzano said because of the old buildings, there’s going to be challenges when there’s significant weather events.
The city has an asset management plan that dictates what work gets done on older buildings, but Provenzano said council hasn’t funded it enough in the past.
“Frankly, our asset management plan is underfunded," he said. "Like many things in our budget, we aren’t putting the money that we need to annually into the asset management plan. As a result of that you have buildings that need attention but to increase funding for asset management plan you have to up the levy and that’s just not something that council has decided to do recently.”
He added that council has put some money into the plan during his time as mayor, but not enough to make it fully funded.
By Thursday morning, there were few signs that a heavy rain storm hit the Sault just 12 hours earlier.
