A trickle of flood news from city hall and the ward 4 Councillor

By Staff

July 17th, 2024

BURLINGTON, ON

 

Flood Update for July 17 

Burlington and surrounding areas have received a large amount of rain since July 15. Flooding has occurred in several areas throughout the city and as a result, Burlington is now in Level 2 Enhanced Monitoring response. The City is making progress on clearing blockages, repairing/cleaning roads, boulevards, and tree debris removals. City staff and contractors will be out cleaning up and clearing debris over the next several days or weeks.

Updated reports indicate that on July 15, approximately 65mm of rain fell in three hours with more rain coming later. Work is ongoing to confirm the total precipitation.

Residents who need power, shower facilities or a comfortable place to go can come to any City recreation facility during normal business hours.

The City is working very closely with community partners including Burlington Hydro, Halton Region, Halton Regional Police Services, Enbridge Gas and the Ministry of Transportation.

Please continue to use caution when travelling around the city. Avoid all waterways such as ponds, creeks, streams and culverts.

  • Do not drive or walk on flooded roads.
  • If you or someone else is in immediate danger, call 9-1-1.
  • If you have flooding on private property, please call 3-1-1 for Halton Region response.
  • If there is flooding on roads or public property, please call Service Burlington at 905-335-7777 or city@burlington.ca.

Residents are encouraged to subscribe to news alerts for extreme weather alerts, road closures and more at burlington.ca/subscribe and follow the City’s social media channels for the latest updates.

Current Road Closures 

  • Flatt Road from #266 to the west terminus
  • Unsworth Avenue from Garden View to Sandcherry Drive
  • Cavendish Drive, 100m east of Weybridge Court

Road closure updates will be posted on social media as well as through the newsfeed at burlington.ca/roadclosures.

Cavendish Drive 

Cavendish Drive is experiencing significant flooding due to a blocked inlet and partially failed berm located on Highway 407 ETR property. 407 ETR staff are on site responding, and City staff have been in ongoing communication with 407 ETR, and the Ministry of Transportation, and are prepared to address any issues on City property.

First responders have recommended that those with flooded basements find alternate accommodations until the floodwaters recede. Information on short-term support has been provided.

Special Council Meeting 

A special Council Meeting has been scheduled for Friday, July 19 at 9:30 a.m. A verbal update will be provided to council on the current situation, actions taken, next steps and resourcing.

Residents can come to the meeting at 426 Brant St. or can stream the meeting at burlington.ca/calendar.

Burlington is a city where people, nature and business thrive. Sign up to learn more about Burlington at burlington.ca/subscribe and follow @CityBurlington on social media.

Infrastructure Investments 

Since 2014 the City of Burlington has invested $20M in stormwater infrastructure which has made a difference in our ability to handle storm water and reduce flooding. The City is committed to asset and infrastructure management, consistently increasing our investment in these areas to mitigate the impact of severe storms and flooding.

Mayor Marianne Meed Ward said: “We understand the concerns and uncertainties following this week’s flooding events. As someone personally affected by the flooding, I empathize deeply with the distress caused. City staff and all members of Council are continuing to work with the community to get answers to questions and provide supports as quickly as possible. We will reconvene on Friday, July 19 at a Special Council Meeting to discuss path forward and provide updates to the community. We are fully committed to addressing this emergency and ensuring the safety and well-being of our community.”

Councillor Stolte, along with Kearns and Sharman fully understood the gravity of the flooding.

Stolte on the CURRENT STATE-July 17th, 2024 at 9:00 am

The Gazette received the email just after 2:00 pm.

The city activated the Emergency and Continuity Management team to address the flooding.

On Monday, July 15 and Tuesday, July 16, several rounds of extensive rain and thunderstorms resulted in flash flooding occurring in multiple locations across the region.  Initial data suggests approximately 70 mm of rain fell on Monday, July 15, 2024 with the majority falling in isolated areas of the City of Burlington and Town of Oakville.

WHAT CAN RESIDENTS DO?

Residents should call Halton Region. They are continuing to update website and social media to provide the information. If you are experiencing basement flooding, the following are the key messages and steps to take:

1. Take immediate safety precautions

If you or someone is in immediate danger, please call 911.
Keep children and pets out of the affected area until cleanup has been completed.
If water has risen above electrical outlets or water is near electrical panels, consider shutting off your hydro. Contact your local hydro company and/or an electrician, if necessary. Note: This would affect the operation of a sump pump or sewage ejector.
If you detect gas, leave the house immediately and contact your gas provider. Water can extinguish a pilot light on a gas appliance, but gas may continue to run.
Do not use toilets or sinks until the source of the backup is known. This will help prevent more wastewater from entering your home.
Do not consume potentially contaminated food.

2. Contact Halton Region at 311 (24 hours a day, 7 days a week) or email accesshalton@halton.ca, regardless of the source of blockage.

Halton Region Public Works staff are working as quickly as possible to review the property history, discuss the situation with the property owner, and continue follow-up as required.

3. Contact your insurance provider to report damage and take pictures. Depending on the terms of the insurance policy, the insurer may:

-assign an adjuster to visit the impacted home to take additional pictures and handle the claim
-recommend a vendor who will conduct the emergency services and repairs
Please direct residents to our Taking Action – Wastewater (Sewage) Backups in Homes webpage for additional information, including how to safely clean and/or dispose of items and information regarding Halton Region’s ex-gratia grant. We are also keeping our channels updated with the latest information.

Once the current situation is resolved, we will be promoting prevention measures and our Enhanced Basement Flooding Prevention Subsidy Program to the community. This program makes it easier and more affordable for property owners to undertake improvements that can help reduce the risk of flooding.

WHAT IS THE CITY DOING?

The City’s Emergency and Continuity Management team was activated on July 15th. They continue to monitor the storm prediction centre and rainfall.

The city will continue to work with the Region on the matter and further discussion will occur.

The city’s Engineering Services team is sending out have inspection teams to take photos to track high water levels and damage. Design and Construction – Parks staff will be inspecting construction sites and parks to assess damage and repair damage as needed.

Roads Design and Construction – staff will also be assessing impacts and will be doing reporting on high water levels and damage assessment. Tyandaga Park was mentioned as having a lot of material has been moved from road construction sites.

Council has requested an update from staff on actions being taken. A special Council meeting was scheduled for Friday July 19th at 9:30am to get a status update on the City’s emergency response, and next steps. The live stream will be available at events.burlington.ca/meetings

ROAD CLOSURES?

Please be advised of the below road closures in effect due to localized flooding and extreme weather:
Flatt Road – # 266 to the end of the road
Unsworth Drive between Sandcherry Drive and Gardenview Drive
Cavendish Drive between # 2043 and # 2061
Ministry staff/City staff are working with Highway 407 property as it is has caused an overland flooding issue
Roads staff are doing street sweeping and cleaning throughout the city.

Guelph Line North of Dundas experienced a shoulder washout.

Related Gazette news stories:

Council stumbles its way to finding ways to keep the public informed.

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3 comments to A trickle of flood news from city hall and the ward 4 Councillor

  • Eve St Clair

    WHERE is the Deputy Mayor on Climate Change ,Rory Nisan? No social media updates from him at all . Is Councillor Nisan still in hiding ?
    Secondly ,maybe Council needs to stop screaming ” Climate emergency ” if they don’t want to act when needed. Photo ops and demanding more taxes is not the answer

  • Anne and Dave Marsden

    The lack of concern from the city for the huge number of residents making claims last flood who they would know only have insurance coverage for flooding for one flood is horrific. The city responsibility for correcting issues identified with last flood is more than just not cleaning out the culverts and must be addressed publicly by this council. But try getting them to do so. We cannot even shame them from the lectern to take the necessary action to correct the fact that for six years they have been non-compliant with provincial legislation relevant to Civic Square, which they have all been instructed by city staff is an absolute must. Climate Change etc. etc. will continue to get blamed whenever our city and its risk management programme are extremely deficient as our audit files show they often are..

    Reminds me of one of my childish pre-teen behaviours; blaming my designated baby sitter older brother for leaving me on my own when I got up to some mischief that I shouldn’t have. The worst being determining whether the bottle labelled sherry was as good as what came out of a bottle of milk for a bed time drink.

  • Penny

    I met a woman who had major flooding the last time this issue occurred in Burlington. Her insurance claim was over $40,000.00 which was paid by the company.

    Now in 2024 she is again facing more flooding in the basement of her home and unfortunately once you have had an insurance claim for flooding you can no longer get coverage should this occur again. It is considered a one time coverage.

    She tried getting insurance from different companies but the one time rule applied and they would not cover flood insurance.

    Have to wonder how many other residents are faced with no insurance coverage for this current flooding?

    If indeed this flooding was exacerbated by the city not cleaning out debris from the culverts and simply waiting for the dead leaves, etc. to compost on their own I would think that there needs to be serious consequences for the department who thought this would be the right way to protect residents.

    For the longest time Covid was used as an excuse for things that went wrong. Now will Climate Change be used as the excuse?