The city has admitted it needs to review how it responds to flooding on the Red Hill Valley Parkway after the latest of four heavy rainfalls in less than a year put motorists’ lives at risk.

The admission comes after Ron Sheckenberger, the project manager of the parkway drainage system from AMEC Earth and Environmental, said both police and the city should have acted on contingency plans sooner.

Vehicles crashed and frightened drivers hydroplaned into drenched ditches after severe flooding on the highway on July 9. There were no serious injuries but 15 directly related crashes on highway on-off ramps that day. It was the second time in a week and the fourth in less than a year that rain overwhelmed the highway’s controversial stormwater management system.

Sheckenberger said it “was not up to me to lay blame,” but added that had the authorities acted sooner, hydroplaning and 15 crashes would not have occurred.

Red flags were also raised after Environment Canada said the downpour was not the one in 100-year storm the parkway was built to withstand, but rather a one in two -year storm.

Meaning rather than dealing with the tiny possibility of a hundred year storm yearly, the authorities may have to make plans to deal with more flooding events each year.

Sheckenberger said the expressway has controlled access gates that can be shut down by police during flooding.

“There are some contingencies that should have been acted on sooner,” he said. “Had the flooding been seen sooner, the gates would have been shut sooner and you wouldn’t have had cars in that risk area.

“I don’t know how it works in the city, but I know when risk reaches this level they should shut it down.”

Sheckenberger also believes that the city should now consider using sensors, often used to detect dangerously rising water in sewers, on the highway to avoid future problems.

Jennifer DiDomenico, former executive assistant to the director of the project — Chris Murray, who is now city manager — admitted the city needs to work on its response mechanisms.

She said: “We take this issue seriously and we are monitoring the situation.

“First we are looking at increased and improved signage to warn motorists to be weather smart and to beware because there may be a misperception about the amount of water on the roads during flooding.

“But we also plan to work with police, fire and EMS to ensure a more efficient response, there is always room for improvement.”

Only days ago Mayor Fred Eisenberger demanded answers from city engineers while Councillor Terry Whitehead called for an outside agency to examine the $245- million parkway to understand why it continues to be submerged.

DiDomenico added: “We will be compiling all the data and preparing an update for council, but we are not sure when that will be complete.”

When asked how the current system is supposed to work, DiDomenico said that although she was unaware of specifics, she did know that police were to advise the city on safety related measures including when to lock the gates.

The police, whose uniform supervisors in the east end hold the key to the gates, also said they would be reviewing their role in the flood.

Police spokesperson Terri Lynn Collings said: “What’s important to us is the safety of our streets.

“We sit in the traffic safety committee with the city and what happened on our end will be reviewed.”

via TheSpec.com – Local – Repeat flooding forces city to review Red Hill drainage.