Heavy rain left over from Hurricane Ida drenches Saint John

Parts of the Maritimes have been hit with heavy rain as remnants of Hurricane Ida pass through the region.

Saint John was expected to be among the communities hardest hit by the wet weather.

Rain began in the early morning hours of Thursday and increased in intensity throughout the day.

Roads were closed in many flood-prone areas, especially in the eastern part of the city, and traffic crept along on water-covered routes.

READ MORE: At least 25 dead as Hurricane Ida remnants dump historic rains in Northeast U.S.

Blair Duffy dealt with car trouble in the parking lot behind McAllister Place shopping centre. The vehicle settled in the middle of a storm-created lake.

“The negative post of the battery fell off as I was coming through, and then it bogged out while I was in the middle of it,” Duffy said. “So now (the car is) a little flooded now.”

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Duffy took the experience in stride.

“I live in Glen Falls,” Duffy laughed. “It floods there.”

Jesse Lloyd, who was passing by in a pickup, hooked a tow rope to Duffy’s vehicle and pulled him out of its watery resting place.

Lloyd said he spent part of his morning driving from Moncton to Saint John, noting that he took secondary roadways to make the trip.

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“It wasn’t too bad when I left there,” Lloyd began. “But about halfway, (the rain) started picking up real bad, (I was) hydro-planing all over the place. There were a few cars pulled over, four-ways on.”

More than 60 millimetres of rain had fallen by mid-afternoon.

Mike Hugenholtz, the commissioner of transportation and environmental services for the City of Saint John, said crews were managing problem areas with signs and barricades.

READ MORE: New Orleans, other communities could be without power for weeks after Hurricane Ida

He said they’ll be monitoring water levels in many areas, including the Marsh Creek basin.

“As the tide goes up and down, that does impact the ability for that basin to drain out to the Bay of Fundy,” Hugenholtz said. “So we expect the impacts are going to continue probably into tomorrow as well with some potential road closures.”

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Global News meteorologist Anthony Farnell said Ida got a boost when it reached Canada after colliding with a system of high pressure over Quebec and Ontario.

“And that fed in cool, stable conditions,” Farnell said. “The tropical moisture went up and over and it focused that rainfall. And now we’re seeing a deepening low in Atlantic Canada.”

Farnell said the Atlantic region has been spared the devastating, 200-plus-millimetre rainfall that hit parts of the northeastern United States on Wednesday.

3:54 Major clean ups underway after Hurricane Ida carves destruction path Major clean ups underway after Hurricane Ida carves destruction path

© 2021 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.

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