The '200 year flood and hail storms' July 2004

On Canada Day in 2004 we had a garden party to celebrate our newly mulched and planted Home Bug Garden. The next day, a massive thunderstorm dumped as much as 60 mm of rain in a few hours . Our rain gauge kept overflowing, so I'm not sure what the Bug Garden got, but much of the mulch floated down the street and the basement flooded. Nine days later (11 July 2004) a second thunderstorm dropped up to 150 mm (~ 6") of rain and hail, flooded the front street to about 1 metre, covered the ground in more than a decimetre (4") of hail, shredded most of the leaves in the garden, and again flooded the basement. Pictured above left is the front street and above right a low spot in the Whitemud freeway.