Entire dock, with boats attached, swept away after heavy rainfall in Edmonton

After a heavy rainfall, one might expect to see debris floating down the North Saskatchewan River — but entire structures are a less common sight.

On Monday morning, however, an entire dock with five metal boats attached was spotted drifting downstream through the city.

Global News spoke with a resident who, while crossing the Walterdale Bridge around 11:45 a.m., spotted the unusual debris.

Three of the boats were upright while two had capsized and were being dragged along in the current.

Edmonton Fire Rescue Services said it was notified of the dislodged dock at 10:50 a.m. and its jet boat unit was deployed to monitor it. EFRS said City of Edmonton park rangers then took over.

The dock and boats appear to be property of the Edmonton Rowing Club, which has boathouse and boat launch in Buena Vista Park in the west end. Global News has reached out to the club for more info.

The river is flowing high and fast after a weekend of relentless heavy rain.

As of noon, the river was flowing around 1,050 m³/s through Edmonton — about double the speed recorded 48 hours earlier. The river also rose about 1.5 metres over that time period.

Water levels may rise an additional 0.5 m before the river peaks late Monday or early Tuesday, Alberta Environment said in its advisory Monday afternoon.

A high streamflow advisory is in effect for the North Saskatchewan River and its tributaries between Rocky Mountain House and the Saskatchewan border.

Alberta Environment said water level increases of one to 1.5 metres are possible at various points along the North Saskatchewan, but as of Monday afternoon no river-related flooding was expected at this time.

The Edmonton region received more rain this past weekend than the area typically gets in the entire month of June — and more precipitation is in the forecast.

On average, Edmonton receives 69.9 mm of rain in June. As of early Monday morning, Environment Canada had recorded 95 mm of rain in the core of the city and 73 mm out at the Edmonton International Airport, after the rain began falling Saturday.

It’s been a wet month. So far this June, Edmonton has recorded 189 mm of rain — the most in more than 60 years.

The city is now tied with tied with 1965 for second-wettest June on record — and is expecting to surpass it before month’s end, as more rain is expected next weekend.

The June rainfall record is held by 1914, when 216.5 mm of rain was recorded in the city.

More to come…

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