A community pool is a place where you’d expect to get wet. But, on Monday, the entrances to Peter Hemingway Aquatic Centre, located inside of Coronation Park, had some pretty ironic warnings posted. The signage stated that the centre “is closed until further notice due to weather-related flooding.”
A long, extended rainfall marked the beginning of summer in Edmonton, continuing a June pattern of heavy precipitation that has made every day this month feel like Folk Fest weather.
As of June 22, more than 190 mm of rain had fallen on the city this month, more than double than average. Environment Canada issued elevated orange rainfall warnings over the weekend for much of central Alberta, with the heaviest concentrations south and east of the city in communities including Fort Saskatchewan, Wetaskiwin, Camrose and Vegreville. About 95 mm of rain fell in Edmonton over the weekend, and there was more than 100 mm west of the city.
Epcor is continuing its rainfall advisory, asking Edmontonians to “please defer laundry, showers or running the dishwasher and reduce the number of times you flush the toilet.”
The utility responded to more than 900 calls Sunday and Monday, much of it from people who have seen water pooling near their properties or experiencing floods in their homes.
“What seem like small steps can be the difference in helping neighbours avoid flooding and sewer backups,” Epcor advised. “To help protect their properties, we encourage Edmontonians to make sure downspouts are extended, check their sump pumps and backwater valves to confirm they are working properly and keep clear their eavestroughs, weeping tiles and window wells.”
Epcor warns Edmontonians to keep a safe distance from more than 240 stormwater ponds in the city as the “water levels will continue to rise.” Many are already spilling over their banks and onto park pathways.
“These ponds are doing their most important job right now, collecting excess rainwater, slowing its entry into the system and improving the quality of water that will eventually enter the North Saskatchewan River.”
Meanwhile, a water-use ban has been lifted in St. Albert.
But Edmonton’s restrictions remained in place into Monday evening.
“We ask Edmontonians to continue to do their part and take immediate steps to reduce their water use,” said Mayor Andrew Knack. “The current alert continues until 8:55 p.m. and will be re-evaluated later today.
“We have seen neighbours come together to support one another, which is the most Edmontonian thing we can do.”
Anthony Nardi, a senior director with Epcor water services, said the hopes are that service will return to normal before the next forecasted rainfall in the coming days.
“At the moment, we haven’t made that decision (to end restrictions), but we plan to make a decision on whether or not to extend tonight. We continue to monitor levels and, when we feel comfortable and safe to remove the restrictions, we will notify all Edmontonians,” said Nardi.
“The rainfall that we experienced was citywide. There weren’t localized areas that experienced intense short rainfalls. This was a prolonged rain event over a couple of days that affected all areas of the city. So we’re seeing levels across the city strain our system. At this point, we’ve been managing localized flooding and responding appropriately, but nothing to indicate widespread city flooding at this point.”
Sign at the entrance of the Peter Hemingway Aquatic Centre warns that the pool is closed due to flooding on Monday, June 22, 2026. Steven Sandor/Postmedia
‘Nobody should be on the river’
The wet month has elevated the levels on the river.
Jay Ball, the executive director of the RiverWatch Institute of Alberta, said the rainfall the city has received has posed “significant challenges at one of our busiest and most important times of the year.”
RiverWatch runs a series of floats on the river for both recreation and educational purposes. The end of the school year is prime student-trip time, but, because of the dangerous river levels, trips covering about 1,000 students have had to be scrubbed.
“Right now, river levels remain more than twice our operational safety threshold, and the rainfall this past weekend has further increased flows,” he said. “That said, Alberta rivers are resilient, and these high-water events are natural parts of the watershed cycle.”
He’s hopeful that the river levels will subside in time for the launch of RiverWatch’s summer programs. But, as it stands, “nobody should be on the river.”
The amount of standing water that results from these massive rainfall events could provide prime hatching ground for mosquito eggs that were lying dormant in the vegetatation. But Mike Jenkins, the city’s biological sciences technician in charge of pest control, said previous dry years mean that there aren’t a huge store of eggs lying in wait.
While the egg bank looks to be low, Jenkins said that this is a “novel” amount of rainfall the city has received, and there is still a lot of guesswork on how it’s going to impact the bug population.
“In general, our mosquito population fluctuates with the amount of standing water that’s on the ground, so the more standing water we get, typically the more mosquitoes we get,” he said. “So there is definitely that potential out there. We haven’t had precipitation to this level in quite a few years.
“But, while we are seeing some mosquito development in some of these habitats, it’s not quite to the level that we would have expected with the amount of water that’s on the ground. So, there are many sites that actually have no mosquitoes still in those habitats, and the numbers that we’re seeing are still fairly low. So our crews are going after habitats, especially where they’re developing in ditch areas, as well as in ground areas, in parks and ravines, and things like that. We’re getting after any of that habitat before it starts developing mosquito larvae.”
The City of Edmonton announced that it had reopened Victoria Park Road southbound, under the Groat Bridge, after it was closed on the weekend due to flooding. The city announced that the pedestrian footbridge at 137 Avenue over Horseshoe Creek in northwest Edmonton has been closed due to “erosion from heavy rain.”
-With files from Trevor Robb, Eric Bowling
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