Following two significant rain events in the Niagara region, municipalities are calling on the federal and provincial governments for disaster assistance and residents are dealing with the cleanup left from the flooding.
St. Catharines and Niagara-on-the-Lake are seeking support after heavy rainfall over the past week caused widespread flooding in homes and businesses. Some areas received nearly 10 inches of rain over the two storms.
According to St. Catharines Mayor Mat Siscoe, the city's stormwater infrastructure was overwhelmed by the unprecedented amount of rainfall.
"The volume of water that fell on St. Catharines was significant. About 100 millimeters of rain in three hours," said Siscoe. "The system's not designed to carry that much water at once."
Niagara-on-the-Lake Lord Mayor Gary Zalepa said the town's downtown core and tourism district were largely spared, but neighborhoods near major drainage systems experienced significant flooding.
"Primarily, the problems have been located along our major natural drainage areas," said Zalepa. "We had lots of overland flow, which is where basically the natural creek overflowed its banks."
The overflowing creek flooded homes and businesses along key drainage corridors as municipal drains reached capacity. Irrigation channels were also overwhelmed, raising concerns for the town's agricultural sector.
Niagara-on-the-Lake homeowner Lisa Molnar says her street was one greatly affected.
"We have an old 100-year-old house, and our basement flooded," said Molnar. "Our neighbors on all sides of us actually flooded as well. So, we were in a little pocket where everybody had basement damage."
Siscoe says in St. Catharines some residents' homes were impacted more than others. "Some houses on a city block might all be affected, but in some cases, it seems like every other house is affected."
Lifelong Niagara-on-the-Lake resident Connie Pillaitteri shared that the cleanup has brought the lakefront community together.
"It's devastating but we're all working together to help each other out and get through it, and we just keep going," said Pillaitteri.
Siscoe also shared that the intense weather effect has had a positive impact on residents.
"The number of residents in the community that are helping one another has been very strange. Neighbors are helping one another out, and that's good to see," said Siscoe.
Community support and concern has been important in restoring order to the flood affected cities especially for Niagara-on-the-Lake as they hosted their annual Peach Festival.
A town reliant on agriculture, Zalepa said many local farmers have been adversely affected.
"We have an irrigation system that we partner with our farm community on that helps irrigate our land so that the tender fruit is exactly as it needs to be," said Zalepa. "A lot of those people along those systems were impacted. Most of it is draining away, but unfortunately, the damage has been done."
Despite the flooding, the Peach Festival proceeded while municipal officials continue working with the province to determine what disaster relief programs may be available.
Zalepa said the town has been in regular contact with provincial officials, including staff from the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing.
"We've been in touch with several ministers and their staff since our first incident," said Zalepa. "We sent correspondence to them, and we've been discussing how Niagara-on-the-Lake needs to collect the information from the impacts and provide it to the province so they can guide us on the most appropriate provincial relief program."
Siscoe, who activated the city's emergency response teams, said staff have determined the flooding was not caused by blocked infrastructure but by the sheer volume of water.
"Staff confirms this had nothing to do with blockages. There were no blockages identified anywhere," said Siscoe. "This was just a volume issue. The capacity to deal with that volume of water just doesn't exist."
Both mayors are encouraging residents affected by the flooding to report damage to their municipalities and begin filing insurance claims as soon as possible. Officials say those reports will help assess the full extent of the damage and support requests for provincial and federal disaster assistance.
