The Eastern Avalon experienced its heaviest downpours in almost a year yesterday. About 45 millimeters fell over the course of two to four hours and it may have reached higher amounts in some areas.
Tabea Fiechter, Senior Meteorologist with the Gander weather office, says the rainfall stretched from Cape Pine, up through Paradise and into metro.
Drivers were encouraged to use caution due to high volumes of water on the roads. Sides of the road on some parts of the Outer Ring were washed away leading to debris on the highway. Prescott Street in the downtown between Gower and Duckworth remain closed after a sinkhole opened up and the pavement crumbled in places.
Road Closure
Prescott Street between Gower and Duckworth is closed due to an area of damaged road.
Crews expect repairs to be completed by Monday, August 12, 2019.https://t.co/e3WQOczyXg #nltraffic pic.twitter.com/wlHKiI32kc
— City of St. John's (@CityofStJohns) August 10, 2019
However, not all areas saw heavy rain. She says that it was a super narrow band and very localized. Areas near Portugal Cove and parts of Mount Pear only reported one millimeter. And there were no thunderstorms. It was a very tropical air mass with a lot of moisture.
Fiechter says it was a bit of a surprise because it formed so quickly. She says they were only expecting around ten millimeters.
She says it has been an unusual year for thunderstorms. She says they didn’t send out a single thunderstorm watch or warning last year but this year they have been going out regularily.
The last time the Avalon saw a similar rainfall was September twelfth of last year when over fifty millimetres fell in three hours.
