A large flood created havoc for about a dozen residents in one Burlington, Ont. neighbourhood as relentless rain pummelled streets off and on over two days.
The 75 mm of rain that dropped in just over 24 hours flooded yards and the interiors of some homes near Upper Middle Road and Brant Street just off of Highway 407 Monday and Tuesday.
Flooding even led to residents being evacuated from homes Tuesday morning over concerns they could be injured by utilities, like electricity and natural gas, disturbed by pooling water.
Resident Craig Belliveau says he’s been in cleanup mode for a second straight day after water poured into his Cavendish Drive home Tuesday morning.
But despite all the rain, Belliveau and some of his neighbours are still wondering if more preventive maintenance around the highway might have eased water flows and avoided damage.
“Right now my basement is completely full of water and my second floor is just starting to fill up, and we’re hoping to see some of this water go down,” Belliveau said.
“The reality is, I don’t know if it will until someone actually does the work on the 407 culvert that’s been blocked by the berm among other trouble spots.”
John Pimentel says in the 30 years he’s lived in the neighbourhood he’s only seen significant flooding one other time but insists it wasn’t nearly as impactful as what he’s seen over the last two days.
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“We’ve had before water come up to street level, but never to this extent,” he recalled.
“Most of the water the previous time we had storms were leaves that just collected in the street.”
During the downpour Tuesday, he saw the nearby creek overflow and says the storm was powerful enough to wash away part of the berm by the 407 which he believes likely saved 10 to 20 other nearby homes.
“They should have had a preventive maintenance program from the top of our subdivision and down,” said Pimentel.
A spokesperson for the city says flash flooding put the area in a Level 2 emergency response, which identifies the potential for hazardous materials beyond the capabilities of the first responders arriving on scene.
Corporate communications manager Suzanne Vukosavljevic said Roads, Parks and Forestry staff responded to downed and damaged trees and set up road closures for affected roads, which had mostly been reopened as of late Tuesday.
Although not yet confirmed, Vukosavljevic said it’s possible the cause was stormwater overwhelming the existing conveyance system.
“There have been investments in infrastructure and the city is actively upgrading key infrastructure to increase stormwater conveyance capacities in our creeks,” she explained.
Mayor Marianne Meed Ward revealed her home and property had also been impacted by the flooding and said she “empathizes deeply” with the distress and questions residents may be having.
In a statement Tuesday, she said city politicians remain committed to asset and infrastructure management amid the declaration of a climate emergency in 2019 spurring on infrastructure management initiatives.
“We also know that the impacts of climate change result in warmer, wetter and wilder weather, and the storms we’re seeing are part of that,” said Meed Ward.
A special council meeting is expected Friday morning at Burlington city hall to address resident’s concerns, according to the mayor.
Halton police said Upper Middle Road and Brant Street was not the only area affected by flooding Tuesday, revealing roads had to be closed on Walkers Line at Mainway, Hampton Heath Road at Windermere and North Service Road at Skyview.
They also revealed emergency crews had to be called to a location on the eighth line south of Georgetown amid reports of three construction workers caught in an underground tunnel with water flowing in.
The owner and operator of Highway 407 ETR said the design and maintenance of the roadway meet all applicable Ministry of Transportation standards, which include storm water management requirements.
“We sympathize with the residents on Cavendish Drive who have been displaced by the extreme rainfall over the past couple of days,” the ETR’s vice president of communications Christine Basil said in an email.
“When the water level subsides, we will be better able to assess the situation and complete any necessary repairs to the berm.”