Fort McMurray, still recovering from wildfire, dealing with flooding

A downpour flooded streets in several neighbourhoods across Fort McMurray, the northern Alberta community where residents have only recently begun returning to their homes weeks after being forced out by wildfire.

Rain poundedthe city all day Thursday a total of47millimetresfloodingseveral neighbourhoods, including Thickwood and Timberlea.

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Alberta Agriculture and Forestrysaid in a release the"rain has increased the hazardous conditions within the Horse River Wildfire."

Itwarnedpeople to stay away from burned areas as trees could come down.

It was just last week that the 80,000 people living in Fort McMurray were allowed to return home after a wildfire forced theevacuation of the city on May 3.

Stressful memories

While some welcomed the rain, it brought backstressfulmemories of the summer of 2013 forThomas Jackson.

After a deluge of heavy rains that June, theHangingstoneRiver overran its banksand flooded parts of Waterways, Grayling Terrace, and the downtown core.

"We've had rain like this before, but I haven't seen flooding like that since 2013when we had that last major flood up here," said Jackson.

"It's not at that level yet, butI haven't seen the sewers back up like this before.The water is getting pretty high, up to the top of people's bumpers."

Jackson said Thursday that vacuum trucks have been parked in neighbourhoods around the city all day, pumping out the overworked drainage lines.

Earlier in the day on severalstreets in some of the worst-hit areas,bylaw officers were knocking on doors, Jackson says, asking residents to check their basements for signs of flooding.

"The rain was good at first because everybody was hoping for rain, and now I think it's going to start worrying people again. I mean, they come back from being evacuated, and now they have something else to deal with."