Back-to-back storms wreak havoc on area

Residents and businesses in the readership area are still reeling and cleaning up from the storms that passed through the area on Wednesday and Thursday of last week.

Golf courses in the area were very hard hit with the torrential rains that hit Wednesday afternoon, August 23, and Thursday morning, and remained closed for several days afterward.

Hydro crews were still working hard on Friday to restore power to customers in Kingsville, Leamington, Wheatley and Pelee Island.

Rainfall totals as of Thursday afternoon had reached upwards of seven inches and with the rain during Thursday’s severe thunderstorm adding to the total, the saturated ground in the Sun Parlour of Canada remained that way most of the weekend.

While Wednesday’s storm produced mostly rain — and lots of it — Thursday night’s storm brought less rain and more wind, damaging outdoor furniture and bringing a few older trees to the ground.

Although nothing like the storm that hit the Kingsville-Leamington-Harrow area last month, Thursday’s event was the second in two days that residents had to endure.

Widespread flooding of roads, fields and parking lots along the Harrow-Colchester-Kingsville corridor and well into Leamington also produced plenty of flooded basements, due to over saturation of the ground and an infrastructure that just could not handle the near-record rainfalls.

Nearby LaSalle, West Windsor and Tecumseh had confirmed tornado touchdowns during Thursday’s event.

The torrential rains took many back to July of 1989 when a unprecented amount of rain fell in a very short period of time, causing widespread flooding of basements and streets.

A boil water advisory was issued for Kingsville on Thursday and then rescinded over the weekend, allowing Kingsville residents to resume regular water-use activity.