Spring melt starts as flood alerts issued for Thames River

CBC News

· Posted: Mar 04, 2025 3:46 PM EST | Last Updated: March 4

Flooding and unsafe waterways are apt successful the coming days arsenic rainfall starts falling overnight Tuesday successful the London, Ont., area.

Environment Canada is forecasting up to 25 mm of rainfall into Wednesday, with mild temperatures melting the piles of snowfall accumulated this winter. Even much antithetic for this clip of twelvemonth are the thunderstorms the upwind bureau is predicting.

"The frozen crushed has a reduced quality to sorb this rainfall," Environment Canada said successful a connection informing of floods.

That connection is being reiterated by the Upper Thames River Conservation Authority (UTRCA), which has been keeping ticker connected the stream and monitoring the magnitude of h2o successful the snowpack.

"We've been moving our models, and the outpouring melt is beginning," said Eleanor Heagy from the conservation authority.

"The streams, rivers, creeks successful the agrarian areas and the ditches and ponds are going to beryllium hazardous," Heagy said. "Any crystal that's near connected immoderate of the ponds is going to beryllium truly anemic and unstable. So enactment disconnected the enactment disconnected immoderate ice."

The informing besides goes for radical and their dogs walking on the Thames River successful the city. 

"Please bash beryllium safe, particularly as March Break is approaching. Kids mightiness not beryllium reasoning astir the dangers erstwhile they're retired having fun."

In the past, London has seen important flooding successful Harris Park, astatine Western University, and occasionally on the northbound subdivision tributary disconnected of Adelaide Street.

Last summer, a kid drowned successful the Thames River erstwhile she was pulled nether adjacent Adelaide Street and Kipps Lane.