Heavy rain floods Kotka allotments, ducks swim in garden plots

Torrental downpours have again struck Kotka, flooding allotment gardens and forcing emergency crews into dozens of pumping operations, Yle reports.

In the Metsola allotment garden, Sunday’s heavy rain left plots submerged, with potatoes, onions, and carrots under water. Tauno Telaranta, chair of the Metsola allotment association, said rainfall exceeded 50 millimetres in the area.

“The fields were rippling with water, knee-deep in places, and ducks were swimming across the plots,” Telaranta said. He has tended a plot in Metsola since 2004 and described the rainfall as unprecedented.

The Finnish Meteorological Institute recorded rainfall rates above 20 millimetres per hour in parts of southern Kymenlaakso, with intense but localised showers. Kotka’s fire and rescue services responded to around 50 calls across the city, pumping water from flooded buildings and closing waterlogged paths, streets, and roads in areas including Mussalo, Lankila, and Juurikorpi.

Kymen Vesi, the regional water utility, reported that flooding in Kotka and Pyhtää worsened after a thunderstorm between Saturday night and Sunday morning. Basements, primarily of detached houses in Kotka’s Korela and Metsola districts, were inundated. Sewage pumping stations experienced up to ten simultaneous overflows at the peak.

Clean-up efforts began over the weekend, but the scale of the damage has caused delays. Kymen Vesi’s CEO Jani Väkevä said the company is investigating damages and will compensate property owners where it bears responsibility. He noted that pumping may still be required in some areas.

Väkevä acknowledged that climate change has increased the frequency of extreme weather, raising the risk of urban flooding. While the utility is upgrading its sewer network with tight plastic pipes and manholes, the scale of the task is daunting: only 5–6 kilometres of the 650-kilometre network can be renewed annually.