By Staff
July 29th, 2024
BURLINGTON, ON
Speaking to Cavendish Drive residents Mayor Meed Ward makes mention of residents who have had to be evacuated and cannot live in their homes right now. “My heart goes out to everyone experiencing this situation.”
An aerial view of the Cavendish Drive flooding. When water was not able to flow through the culverts because several of them were blocked, the water backed up into the community.
“My commitment is to do my best to get you the answers to the questions you asked us, to find out what happened and make sure it never happens again.
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We are in regular contact with Highway 407 ETR staff to share information and updates on the progress of the work. Our emergency staff have advised that 407 ETR staff are on site and will be working overnight to relieve the remaining flooding in the area by cleaning debris.
“A special thank you to Hassaan Basit, Chief Administrative Officer, Enrico Scalera, Acting Commissioner, Public Works, Cary Clark, Manager, Development & Stormwater Engineering, and Councillor Nisan for stopping by and answering questions from the community. Your presence and expertise are invaluable during this challenging time.
“The City is sharing updates twice a day and I will share that information as soon as possible. You can also reach out to me directly to share your concerns at Mayor@burlington.ca ”
We don’t know if any mention was made about the four to six weeks the city needs to process a cheque for $1000 to help those people who cannot live in their homes. That length of time is unconscionable.
I live in a condominium building at Pearl and Lakeshore Roads. We have 75 units in total on 17 floors.
We have 3 levels of underground parking and we have had to deal with some water penetration on the lowest garage level.
Cannot image what might happen for the 6 and 7 level of underground parking that is part of the 2 new condominium buildings on Martha/Lakeshore and Pearl/Lakeshore.
Time will tell.
sadly, we all bitch and moan about the degradation and failings of Burlington, but there’ll be no change.
these suspicious parasites will continue to “take the money and run” …. acquiesce to developers, waste our money on meaningless short term boondoggles, make false and ridiculous claims that justify their positions, increase taxes, reduce services and generally “leech” their way through another term.
we’re to blame folks.
and the folks on cavendish will be an “item” until the next inevitable screw up by these clowns.
revolt !!!
How many of us drive along and watch landscapers as well as homeowners blow their grass clippings onto the road surface. Although it is illegal and there is a bylaw on “Vegetative” matter , I have yet to see anything done about it. ByLaw needs to be out driving around and if this is happening, issue a ticket. This is not an isolated case either. I see it every day along our major roads. One of the problems with grass clippings entering the stormwater system is they become a mush ball of heavy grass and water and then other debris which now clogs the flow. Guess what? Now you have a blockage and water has nowhere to go but up and out and flood. Something the city needs to get on top of.
Editor’s note: Those bylaw officers you want out there looking for grass clippings have to be paid. An additional cost. You can’t just fine people – they have to be educated.
We certainly know the flooding at Cavendish was predominantly if not totally caused by poor maintenance and maybe bad design of the culvert and embankment by 407 ETR. Is there any evidence in the public domain that suggests flood damage at other locations was caused by poorly maintained culverts or drains on city property, and not simply by the gigantic amount of rain (70mm a month’s worth in one day)? Or is this just conjecture?
Seems many of those who continually seek zero property tax increase, or even laughingly a property tax reduction, are also those complaining about reduced city services particularly now as respects clearing culverts and drains. Cake and eat it ??
Please do not blame the City for any issues caused by the high rise development excavating multi-storey levels below grade. Blame the OLT. Has any evidence come to light that connects the excavations for the high rises as a cause of the flooding? Or is this yet more unsubstantiated blaming.
Other than it is just plain polite to thank one’s staff for doing a good job, whether or not it is within their scope, maybe staff have been working excessive & extended hours to get things done. Likely unpaid extended hours. Ever consider that?.
So many here just continually whine and jump to unfounded conclusions.
Editor’s note: Staff are paid for extended hours.
Jim. I beg to differ.
Please read the article linked below. Admittedly it references Mississauga and Toronto and the GTA, not specifically Burlington.
* One/two day rainfall.
“Officials also noted in the post that 97.8 mm of rain “fell on July 16 alone,” included in that a 10-minute span in which 26 mm of rain fell.
Over the two-day period July 15-16, Pearson’s weather station measured 122.9 mm of rain.”
* Record single month rainfall
“With 6.79 mm of rain recorded on Tuesday at Pearson Airport in Mississauga, a new single-month rainfall record was set.”
*GTA wide flooding – not just Burlington
“Numerous homes and businesses were also flooded in Mississauga and across the GTA.
Mississauga received a month’s worth of rain over the course of a few hours that caused localized flooding in areas across the city,” City of Mississauga officials said at the time.”
*Hurricane Hazel and previous inundations
“Back in October 1954 as Hurricane Hazel made its way through the area, that storm dropped more than 200 mm of rain in a single 24-hour period.
The third-wettest month in history as recorded by Pearson was September 1986 (212.2 mm) with May 1942 (208.6 mm) sitting fourth on the list.
*N.B.
Obviously back in both 1942 and 1954 there was way less building development and way more permeable surfaces to assist in drainage than there is today.
It my understanding the vast majority of the hundreds of homes flooded resulted from sewer back up because the sewer system could not handle the immense volume of water. The same cause for flooded homes in other parts of the GTA.
It should be made mandatory for every building to have a sewer back up preventor installed. No matter where one lives it is prudent to have a sump pump installed (with battery back up).
Jim, out of the hundreds of flooded homes in Burlington how many can you with supporting evidence say were exclusively damaged by clogged drains or culverts?
Do you have evidence that rules out debris being swept downstream from a distance to clogg culverts/drains rather than that debris already prior to the storm just sitting there at the culvert/drain?
It seems commentators here view the flooding as isolated to Burlington and not a GTA wide event. Let’s blame and pile on the mayor and council.
Councilor Stolte asked this most pertinent question of residents – are you ready and willing to pay the cost of infrastructure upgrades and manpower servicing costs?
It seems to be non stop CYA ….
Thanks to all who commented, especially Lynn Crosby and Caren. Once again a performance by the “Mayor of Spin”
“My commitment is to do my best to get you the answers to the questions you asked us, to find out what happened and make sure it never happens again.“. Taken right from the 2018 campaign promises list? Well, it happened again. And will happen again, all over the city.
Digging multiple storeys down under the water table to build highrises right by the lake and atop creeks, paving over permeable ground like at Brock University/Bateman for a parking lot, debris not cleaned up, blocked storm drains, on and on it goes. How about real action: cancel the $500 neighbourhood parties, put the $20k art displays on hold, cancel the trip to Japan, severely reduce the civic square reno and use the money to put towards ACTUAL things that can mitigate future floods and help the most recent flood victims. Maybe even take a pay cut as several other mayors did in recent times.
It’s a demonstration of total lack of leadership when one can never ever admit any blame but puts it all on others instead. Classic gaslighting.
Depressing is it not Lynn – how we believed her message in 2018 and put such time, energy and “personal capital” into her campaign. Such a betrayal imho. Nothing much that we can do at this point but to continually note the difference between ‘promise and performance’.
Damn, it has been 2 weeks since the flood and it now seems to all be the fault of the 407. Give her 2 more weeks and it will be laid on the washed away doorstops of homeowners for not having sump pumps, back flow valves, adequate insurance, and regular community cleans of culverts and catch-flow basins. Has she ever admitted either error or true accountability?
Why the “special thank you” and what was so “special” about them showing up for work?
The ‘left to naturalize’ policy has to be scrapped. It doesn’t make sense in an urban environment/city with so many creeks draining into Lake Ontario. Shoreacres Creek is in terrible condition.
I always find it interesting that Council members feel it is necessary to thank staff and other councillors for doing their jobs.
If all had done their jobs properly residents wouldn’t be flood victims who have had to evacuate their homes and deal with the work that will be necessary to get their homes liveable.
It will be interesting to see how long it will take and just how much money will be coming to the residents. Doubt it will take only 4 weeks.
Our Mayor makes it sound like the Highway 407/ETR are responsible for all of the flooding in the Cavendish area. But, Mayor Meed Ward fails to mention that she and our Burlington City Council played a significant role with the flooding in both the Cavendish area and also all over Burlington due to lack of regular maintenance, repairs, and reconstruction of extremely old infrastructure. Debris left to Naturalize in streams and creeks all over the City and storm water drains blocked etc.
Taking control of “Flood Management in Burlington” was our Mayor’s number one Mayoral Campaign promise when she ran for Mayor in her first campaign in 2018. And now in 2024, 6 years later, nothing was accomplished. Her Campaign promise never materialized!!.
All talk and no action!