Kristen Villebrun and Wendy Bush hoped they wouldn't have to pray for Chedoke Creek, but four years after they first raised alarm about the water's condition, they were part of an Indigenous full moon ceremony to do just that. About 50 people showed up near Princess Point on the dark and frigid Monday evening for the monthly ceremony, which was particularly special as it focused on Chedoke Creek. The body of water that runs into Cootes Paradise had about 24 billion litres of sewage and storm water runoff leak into it due to a gate being left open.
With a recent donation in Quebec, Labatt Breweries of Canada has donated more than a million cans of water to support communities with 24 distributions in seven provinces over 11 years. Established in 2012, Labatt's Canadian Disaster Relief Program was created to provide safe drinking water to Canadian communities experiencing disasters such as flooding, forest and wildfires, environmental spills, drought and ice storms that compromised a community's water supply.
At the bottom of a slope in a dense Montreal neighbourhood, there's a new park with benches, an open field and a playground — along with two small pedestrian bridges. When there's heavy rain, water rushes down the streets and sidewalks into the green space, forming a small lake beneath the overpasses, in a carved-out area filled with grasses, shrubs and rocks. In the days that follow, the water slowly seeps into the soil and stormwater system. It's all been engineered to prevent flash flooding in nearby streets and homes, while nourishing the vegetation in the park.
A boil-water notice has been issued for the entire city of Prince Rupert, B.C., after its aging water system suffered multiple breaks on Tuesday night. Mayor Herb Pond described the situation in the city of 12,000 people as "armageddon-like," with water gushing out of the ground, washing out streets and flooding people's basements.
From green roofs in Toronto to Vancouver’s rain city strategy, Canadian cities are looking to become sponges in order to help mitigate some of the effects of extreme rainfalls. In Montreal, Mayor Valerie Plante announced last week that the city plans to develop some 30 additional sponge parks designed to catch and absorb rainwater and keep it from flowing into overburdened sewers during extreme rain.
More than 2.5in of rain was reported in one hour in Brooklyn Navy Yard. In a virtual briefing, New York's chief climate officer Rohit Aggarwala said that the city's sewage system was only designed to handle 1.75 inches an hour. "It's no surprise that parts of Brooklyn have borne the brunt of this," he said.
Feelings of overwhelming fear and anxiety hit Alicia Hennessey, Amanda Dunfield and Jennifer Moore every time a rainfall warning is issued for their area. The women are neighbours and live with their families on Stannus Street in downtown Windsor, N.S. — their homes three in a row. For years they've each dealt with repeated flooding caused by problems with the town's combined sewage and storm water system.
But with proper adaptation methods, experts are hopeful that flooding can be tackled. In the middle of a busy re-election campaign during the summer of 2014, Burlington, Ontario mayor Rick Goldring’s basement flooded. More than 5.5 feet of water was gushing through it due to record rainfall. Goldring wasn’t alone: more than 3,000 homes in the city were flooded, and roads and businesses were severely impacted. “As far as the volume of rain, what was really off the charts was the intensity of the rain and how quickly it fell,” Goldring told The Weather Network (TWN) in a recent interview.
Vancouver is well known for its rainy climate but parched lawns are now a common sight in its sprawling suburbs and city parks. New restrictions on watering began early this summer and - unlike elsewhere - most residents are happy to comply. The grass in front of Sky Morfopoulos' home in East Vancouver is barely grass at all. Although the strands are brown and parched, tiny sprinkles of weeds and clovers blend in with the fading grass and present an illusion of a semi-green lawn.
The mayor of Glencoe, Ont., says the cost of cleaning up and repairing the damage from Wednesday's deadly rainstorm has pushed his rural community to ask the province for financial relief. Environment Canada said Wednesday the town received 135 millimetres of rain during a downpour that turned driveways into ponds, roads into streams and filled basements with sewage.
About 77 millimetres of rain fell on Ottawa in a matter of hours, according to Environment Canada. That's more than any other Aug. 10 on record, but surrounding regions saw even more, receiving between 80 and 110 millimetres. At the storm's peak, Hydro Ottawa reported 24,000 customers without power. Mycah Katz was practicing a drag performance in the basement lounge of his condo building when the power cut out.
In portions of Halifax and central Nova Scotia, as an estimated 250 millimetres of rain fell last weekend, similar confusion and improvisation was unfolding, in what some experts say is the latest example of the province's inadequate state of preparation for climate disasters. The mayor of the Municipality of West Hants has said many residents reported they didn't receive any emergency alert at all because of the area's spotty cellular service.
In the aftermath of the flooding that has devastated parts of Nova Scotia, Insurance Bureau of Canada (IBC) is providing insurance information to affected residents and has deployed its Virtual Community Assistance Mobile Pavilion (V-CAMP). Insurers serve as “second responders” in the recovery period after catastrophe strikes. IBC’s V-CAMP is staffed with trained insurance industry personnel who are on hand at IBC's Consumer Information Centre at 1‑844‑2ask-IBC (1-844-227-5422) to help address consumers’ general questions about home, business or vehicle insurance.
A park in Lachine, Que., will become soon help Montreal avoid future flooding. The city is redesigning Brewster Park, near Lac Saint-Louis, using concepts from the realm of phytotechnology — the application of plants to solve engineering and science problems — to make it into a "sponge park" that will absorb water during heavy rainfall events.
Water levels have been significantly dropping in Hay River, N.W.T., resulting in waterfalls turning into trickles. One man has lived in Hay River for 40 years, and says he's never seen water levels so low this time of year. "You can see people walking across the river that's only a few feet deep in some areas," said Glenn Smith, the senior administrative officer for the town of Hay River.
Marilyn Roberts lost everything in her basement on Saturday when water from a nearby pond came rushing in. The Sally's Cove resident said it took less than 30 minutes for five feet of water to fill up her basement, leaving her with a massive mess and questions about the future of her home. "It's heartbreaking," she said. "I don't know how I'm going to pull through it down the road. It's going to be hard for me."
RCMP in Nova Scotia are investigating mischief to fire hydrants in Yarmouth that caused flooding to a home. Yarmouth Town RCMP received a report Thursday morning that fire hydrants had been tampered with on Brunswick, King, Beacon, Main, Marsha and Water streets. Officers learned that several hydrants had caps removed and had been activated, allowing the water to flow, between Wednesday evening and Thursday morning. The water flooded the basement of a home on Marsha Street.
“We dispatched staff from the Town of Innisfil to the impacted flood areas this morning to assist with diverting water away from homes and communicating with residents in the affected areas,” Nicole Bowman, director of operations said in an email. “Our crews are still on site diverting the water and we will continue to update residents through our website and social media channels.”
Sudden downpours flooded parts of Ottawa Monday evening, leaving some streets swamped as storms rumbled through the region. Videos on social media showed torrential scenes in the Glebe and near Lansdowne. Marilyn Journeaux, Director, Water Services-Linear with the city of Ottawa, said in a statement Wednesday afternoon following the storm that the city was “not aware of any flooding occurring on private property due to Monday’s heavy rainfalls.” “Monday’s severe storm delivered heavy rainfalls in our city in a short time, posing a risk of overwhelming the city’s storm sewer system and causing flooding to nearby properties,” Jorneaux said. “In order to safeguard residents’ properties and address these concerns, the city has diligently worked on enhancing our drainage system over the past two decades, incorporating infrastructure modifications into its design.
Welcome news as some areas in the province deal with flooding and high water levels. The City of Edmonton sent a public service announcement on Tuesday warning people to “exercise extreme caution around the North Saskatchewan River and its tributaries.” “Due to the continuous rain, the river, as well as shorelines and trails directly near the river, may be unsafe,” said the announcement. “Edmontonians may expect high water levels and increased current flow in the coming days. This may cause some flooding in areas running along the North Saskatchewan River and other natural waterways.”
The Regional District of Kitimat-Stikine has issued evacuation orders for the communities of Old Remo and New Remo, which are on low-lying flood plains just west of Terrace, B.C. In a written statement, the district says it issued the evacuation orders because the flooding poses an imminent threat to people and properties in the two communities.
