Flooding in a Brampton, Ont., community prompted an evacuation on Thursday, with around 100 homes affected.
The flooding occurred in the Churchville Road and Steeles Avenue West area, near the Credit River.
“It’s pretty ugly. We have about 100 homes that are going to be affected by this flood,” Brampton Mayor Patrick Brown told Global News.
“The Credit River is obviously overpouring, but we’ve got Brampton Fire on the scene. Peel police were evacuating residents. The Region of Peel, Brampton Public Works, everyone’s on the scene just to make sure that we can make a very difficult situation safe and protect residents.”
Brown said that the situation would likely be difficult for “days to come.”
“This is an historic part of Brampton — Churchville — and this flooding is going to leave some devastation,” he said.
Brampton Fire Chief Bill Boyes said fire crews had their water rescue team on scene, along with the Peel Regional Police marine unit to help residents get out of their homes, take personal belongings and get to safety.
“The water keeps rising and rising. It rises fast. So we’re asking people that don’t need to be in this area to evacuate,” Boyes said.
“We’re working with the Region of Peel and our local emergency management team to make sure that residents are taken care of if they need additional resources or supports or a place to stay; we’re going to make sure they have that. We know this is a tough time for everybody.”
Boyes said the evacuation was voluntary, but officials were determining if it needed to become an emergency evacuation order.
He noted that the majority of “severely impacted” residents left.
The following areas were evacuated:
- Select areas of Churchville Road
- Martins Boulevard
- Church Street
- Victoria Street
- Adelaide Street
- Select areas of Creditview Road
No injuries have been reported.
Some localized flooding has been reported in other parts of Brampton as well.
The flooding comes after much of southern Ontario was drenched with plenty of rain since Wednesday.
The rain, combined with melting snow and the threat of ice jams, prompted the Credit Valley Conservation Authority (CVC) to issue a flood warning.
“CVC has received early reports of flooding and ice breakup/jams across the watershed,” an advisory issued Thursday morning said.
“Water levels will continue to rise in response to the rain and melting snow. The risk is high for ice break up and possible ice jam formation along the Credit River.”
Meanwhile, Brampton is also now under a snowfall warning with up to 20 cm expected by Friday after the temperature dropped and precipitation changed to snow.
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