Photo: A truck attempts driving through the flooded parking lot at the Totem Mall./Submitted.
Flash flooding and knee deep water from Thursday night’s storm in Fort St. John caused problems for some businesses.
Many of the stores in the Totem Mall were slightly flooded because the mall ties into the city’s drainage system, says Rob Schlitt, manager of the Totem Mall, and when that has reached capacity, the water around the mall cannot drain.
Schlitt says the flooding in the stores only occurred because people were driving through the parking lot and splashing water against the building, adding that if that hadn’t happened, the stores probably would not have been water damaged at all.
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Photo: The parking lot of the Totem Mall was more like a sewer water lake./Adam Reaburn
The water in the parking lot was sewer water, he says, and warns that if flooding occurs again and water gets into the power room, people who are in the area could easily be electrocuted.
Despite the flooding, he says the stores in the mall will be open for business, Friday, but adds the cinema may be closed since it received the most amount of water damage.
