Lambton County town still assessing damage after major flooding, calls on province for aid

Warwick Township is still assessing the damage a week after the rural municipality was hit with heavy rains and flooding, Mayor Todd Case said Monday, as he called on the province to help the small Ontario town.

Following the rain and flooding last Tuesday, Case declared an emergency on Thursday. But speaking on Windsor Morning on Monday, he said a true understanding of the numbers might not be available until the end of this week.

"We saw within about a week a total of 11 inches of rain in parts of the municipality. The day of the storm and the day before, we actually saw in some areas about eight inches of rain, so we've been pounded pretty hard to date the last little while with these weather events," Case said.

LISTEN |Mayor weighs in after flooding puts small town into state of emergency again:

Windsor Morning7:36Mayor weighs in after flooding puts small town into state of emergency again

"We had basements that were flooding again, we had sewage backup the same as last time around and our rural areas suffered hugely when it comes to the infrastructure itself with gravel roads being washed away, drains being washed away as well. It was just a real mess up there."

In August, Warwick Township declared an emergency after nearly 180 millimetres of rain fell in just five hours. Case said declaring an emergency once again was the right thing to do.

"When you look at the volume of damage and the amount of repair it was going to need from a procurement standpoint, it was a natural thing to do," he said.

"We have to be able to utilize money to get these repairs done and when you're doing that, you can't go through the regular procurement policy, you have to be able to act and react as soon as possible."

While the assessment is ongoing, the mayor said "we do know it's going to be a huge amount of money for a community our size."

Looking to province for help

Case said the township will be looking to the province to help with some of the financial costs.

"It's 11 months down the road from last August when we had the original storm, and we still have not received the dollars. We are told it's still an active file, which is absolutely ridiculous in my opinion," he said.

Case said any funds received from the province would be used to replace the gravel roads as well as look after the drainage and replace culverts.

"So, the money will come in handy. Obviously, if this bill gets to be as large as the last one was around, if not even more, it's an impact financially on our community so we are looking for the Ford government to come to the plate and assist us again," Case said.

A spokesperson for the Minister of Municipal Affairs and HousingPaul Calandrasaid the ministry has been in contact with the Township of Warwick staff regarding their application for the August 2023 flooding in their municipality.

"We are awaiting supporting documentation needed in order to complete the review and determine the municipality's eligibility under the program,"Justine Teplyckywrote in an email to CBC News.

Last week's storm also left many of Toronto's streets flooded, including the Don Valley Parkway, and thousands without power. At its peak Tuesday afternoon, 167,000 customers were without power, Toronto Hydro said.

About 98 millimetres of rainfall was recorded at Pearson International Airport in Mississauga, while roughly 84 millimetres fell in the downtown core of Toronto within a few hours, according to Environment Canada.

Speaking on Tuesday afternoon, Mayor Olivia Chow said the city is "massively investing in the state of repair so that there is less flooding going forward."

Ontario Premier Doug Ford, speaking from the premiers' meeting in Halifax, said he will reach out to Chow to find out what the city might need as it recovers from the storm.

"Thank God everyone's OK," Ford said.

Case is urging the province not to forget small Ontario towns in situations like the major flooding in the township.

"If something like that happens in the GTA, it's looked after rather briskly, by the government and when it happens to small towns in rural Ontario, it's a slow moving train. It always has been," he said.

"All we can do is hope that the government will see their way fit to provide funding to small rural urban municipalities in the future because again, we're just as important. At the end of the day, you got to remember where your food is growing. Your food is growing in small town rural Ontario and I haven't met anybody yet that doesn't enjoy eating.

"If we continue to see these kinds of weather events, obviously it's going to take its toll on crop production in the farming communities and in the urban communities that are surrounded by them. So we're really hoping to see the province come to the table again," he added.

Community being proactive: mayor

Meanwhile, Case said the township has been trying to be proactive.

"We did look at our drainage system, we've made lots of improvements to the drainage system, lots of maintenance was done. We also put a backflow device program in the municipality to help with people not having sewage backup this time around," he said.

"Some people took advantage of the program and unfortunately, some obviously still had some back up in our community. So we did put some measures in place last year right after the storm and we're going to continue obviously to do what we can, but we really need the financial support of the provincial government to make the larger improvements that are needed to make the situation at least a little better."