The past few weather days were a study in contrasts.

After torrential rain from Thursday to Saturday caused flooding in some areas of Maple Ridge and PItt Meadows - with several properties along 224th Street under water - the sun started drying things up Sunday, pulling locals out into the sunshine.

And the sunny spring-like skies helped eradicate all memories of the monsoon-like rains.

At least that was the case for many, as hundreds of people flocked to different sections of the local dike system on Sunday to soak up some much needed vitamin D.

The very dikes that exist to keep flood waters at bay, and were doing their job for the most part Friday as roads were closed and fields throughout the community were flooded, became a recreational sanctuary just 48 hours later.

Darin McClain, manager of the Bell Irving Hatchery, said the local rainfall was the most he'd seen fall in a 24-hour period since coming to Kanaka Creek Regional Park four years ago.

A whopping 98 millimetres of rain fell at the rural site in east Maple Ridge during the 24-hour period between Thursday and Friday afternoons, while 152 millimetres was recorded in 48 hours between Thursday and Saturday.

"That's a big old wow," McClain said. "We have seen bigger events over the 28 years or so, but that's right up there," he said, noting the only other event he could recall as bigger was the floods of 2007.

In fact, the recent flooding was so severe that it prompted closure of 224th Street north of 132nd Avenue in Maple Ridge on Friday.

As has been the case in past, the North Alouette River rose rapidly and the water overflowed on the road, quickly becoming too deep to drive through.

Sedrick Simon and his mother Celine Phillion, who live on 132nd Avenue just east of 224th Street, had a couple feet of water on their rental property - both outside and in their home and in the guest house where Simon lives.

This is the second flood they've had since moving in September, leaving the mother and son to rescue their animals in a boat.

Likewise, flooding was also reported on Lorne Avenue in Hammond and in many of the fields in Pitt Polder.

The rising waters were due in part to the heavy rainfall, but also runoff from melting snow as temperatures rose rapidly.

And as quickly as those waters came, they receded again.

And as the rains stopped, the skies cleared, and the sun began to shine again Sundays, locals headed outdoors again - all anxious to get out whether it was to garden, walk, bicycle, or ride horses.

editorial@mrtimes.com