Evan Bray: Rain, rain don't go away - but come again another day
Evan Bray says his grandfather was a farmer who always told him to never complain about the rain. However, the much-need...
The City of Regina is working to confirm if the Labour Day long weekend downpour was a rare weather event.
“We are looking at a one-in-50-year storm event in the northwest area of the city,” said Carolyn Kalim, the city’s director of water, waste and environment.
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“So, I think that would put it at the highest event of the year, but I’d need to confirm to be sure.”
The city’s rain gauges showed that 95 millimetres fell on the community on Sunday and Monday.
Kalim said the sewer system was overwhelmed causing flooding on Ring Road, different underpasses and residential areas.
She said water bypassed the Garnet Street weir and flowed into the Wascana Creek system and the largest sinkhole the city has seen in years formed near Rochdale Park.
Carolyn Kalim, the city’s director of water, waste and environment, spoke to reporters on Sept. 8, about flooding in Regina. (Gilllian Massie/ 980 CJME)
The city was originally alerted the sinkhole was forming in northwest Regina on Aug. 19. It was surrounded by fencing at the Rochdale Park entrance at Cunningham Drive and Stephens Bay on Tuesday morning.
A few people walking near along the road commented “wow, that’s crazy” when they saw the cavity.
One city worker at the scene estimated the sinkhole is around 20 feet deep, with drainage pipes, cracked cement, parts of the asphalt from the collapsed road and tree roots all visible inside the hole.
This sinkhole is huge.
— Abby Zieverink (@ZieverinkAbby) September 8, 2026
Some city workers walked up and said “wow, that’s crazy” as soon as they saw it.
This is at one of the entrances of Rochdale Park in NW Regina. #YQR @CJMENews pic.twitter.com/eWvmJlEben
Kalim said the sinkhole was caused by a pipe that failed and crews needed to drain the stormwater pond to begin repairs.
However, the long weekend rainstorm halted the repair progress and caused the sinkhole to grow.
“We don’t know what repairs we need to do yet,” she said. “We can’t give a specific timeline, but it is a priority as soon as we can get that drained down.”
Kalim said the sinkhole shouldn’t take as long to repair as the one at Speaker’s Corner.
“The things that are different are the location,” she said.
“The one that happened at Speaker’s Corner was in the middle of Albert Street and was very close to some properties that made the repair work very challenging.”
Kalim said a pedestrian signal began to sink after water drained into the construction area at the Speaker’s Corner repair project.
Water being pumped into a little lake at Rochdale Park in Regina on Sept. 8, 2026. (Abby Zieverink/980 CJME)
According to Environment Canada, the southern part of the province was hit hardest by the weekend’s weather, but rainfall warnings were issued across many areas.
“In the southeast, it was more like thunderstorms with the heavy rain, and then through Saskatoon and the northern grain belt, it was more that steady, heavy, heavy convective showers. But in general, (about) 30 to 50 millimetres throughout all of southern Saskatchewan,” said Shannon Moodie, a meteorologist from Environment Canada.
The province’s major cities were also dealing with an excessive amount of rainfall. As of Monday morning, Regina had recorded 53.5 millimetres, while Saskatoon had received 50.6 millimetres.
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