SPOKANE, Wash. — The rain Thursday evening caused some urban flooding across Spokane, and residents jumped in to clear clogged storm drains.
At the intersection of West Francis Avenue and North Cannon Street flooding caused multiple cars to get stuck Thursday night.
During the commotion, residents were out on their street trying to clear away debris from the drains.
The city of Spokane encourages people to do this, safely.
"In most cases, especially on residential streets, it's safe for you to go out and clear away the debris. All of those loose pine needles, the flowering trees—all that stuff got knocked off the trees yesterday and did cause some clogging of drains. So as much as people can get out there and remove that—that helps the wastewater system," said city spokesperson Marlene Feist.
Feist said while clearing the drains helps, it's also important to make sure you're safe by being aware of traffic.
City crews were out Friday afternoon working to clean up debris and fix any clogged drain the flooding caused. In fact, clean up on Fifth and Walnut closed off access to the I-90 on-ramp for most of the day. City officials said it's expected to reopen by the evening commute. Feist said city crews do routine checks to ensure they drain properly.
"Certainly, there are areas they are aware of that more frequently get clogged. They go out and clear those. And we do that in the winter as well. They have a vac trucks that can take care of lots of problems. And yesterday many of them were out there clearing storm drains like anyone else," Feist said.
