olivia_allen•13d agoProlific Poster

Got caught in a flash flood during my river cleanup project last spring

I was down by the Seine River in Winnipeg with my group picking up trash when the sky just opened up out of nowhere. The water level rose about 2 feet in 20 minutes and we had to abandon 3 bags of collected debris because we couldn't carry them running uphill. We lost that whole day's effort and I felt stupid for not checking the weather forecast before heading out. Has anyone else had a volunteer day derailed by sudden weather changes like this?

2 comments

2 Comments

jesser7913d agoMost Upvoted

@the_james sounds dramatic, it was a few trash bags not a natural disaster.

the_james13d ago

Properly checking the weather beforehand seemed like common sense I already had, but after a similar incident camping last fall I realized I was just pretending to pay attention. My group was setting up tents by a creek bed near Riding Mountain and the forecast said 10% chance of rain. That 10% turned into a sudden downpour that flooded our whole site and we spent the night sleeping in the truck. Most people just glance at their phone and think that's enough, but now I actually look at radar maps and watch for storm cells moving in. Experience is a brutal teacher sometimes, but at least we both learned the hard way instead of losing something worse than trash bags or soaked gear.