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Rain in Kelowna breaks records, causes flooding

Tuesday was one for the record books as a record amount of rain caused flooding in Kelowna
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Tuesday was one for the record books here in Kelowna after a torrential downpour caused large amounts of flooding.

Environment Canada describes the harsh weather as a “pulse storm” where rainfall is isolated to a small area. The harsh rain was recorded between Gordon and Spall along Highway 97.

Stats provided by Lunquist indicate that 20 millimeters of rain fell within a short span of 35 minutes, an event that has only been documented to occur every 50-100 years in Kelowna.

Among the establishments affected by the rain was Good Life Fitness, located on Gordon Drive.

The 24-hour-gym experienced a large amount of flooding beginning in the morning and was forced to close its doors to the public for the remainder of the day.

Doug Lundquist, a Meteorologist for Environment Canada is also a member at Goodlife’s Gordon location in Kelowna. “I’ve never seen rainfall that hard before,” said Lundquist.

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GoodLife was able to re-open their doors yesterday morning at around 10 a.m, although their daycare and spin facilities are currently not fit for use.

Also hit by the showers was Kelowna’s Global Fitness & Racquet Centre on Harvey Avenue.

Manager Darcia Senton said their flood was caused by their sewage system backing up from the overflow of rain. Senton said the gym was forced to hire a restoration company to sanitize the gym. Global was able to re-open their doors at 3 p.m. yesterday.


@Niftymittens14
daniel.taylor@kelownacapnews.com

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