| A perfect storm on the Toronto Islands
Like many GTA residents, I will remember the summer of 2017 as the summer the Toronto Islands were swallowed up by floodwaters. Being in Toronto when it’s hot without the option of escaping to the Island is a serious bummer. I usually visit with my family several times between June and August. My son loves the beaches, my daughter loves the amusement park, and we all love the feeling of roaming around a 330-hectare car-free zone. Torontonians are lucky to have such a vast playground at their disposal.
Every summer, the Island gets 1.4 million visitors—rich people, poor people, long-time Canadians and newcomers from all over. This year we’re all feeling pretty glum.
We’re also a little freaked out. Is the flooding a sign of climate change? Probably, but it’s hard to pin down. The UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change says that increases in heavy precipitation are a hallmark of global warming. When temperatures rise, the atmosphere can carry more moisture, so when it rains, it pours. Then again, the Island has flooded before, and islanders have had plenty of experience stacking sandbags, wading through swampy lawns and pumping out overflowing crawl spaces. In fact, as Katherine Laidlaw explains in “The Year of the Flood” (page 64), the Toronto Islands were created by a violent storm in 1858 that broke them off from the mainland.
All over the world, during dramatic weather events, people are wondering whether they’re experiencing natural disasters or environmental calamities of our own making. When Hurricane Sandy flooded the subways and tunnels of Manhattan in 2012, was it because of climate change? What about the excruciating heat wave in Phoenix in June that made it too hot for planes to take off?
We don’t need conclusive answers to prepare wisely for the future. Flooding is a serious issue for Toronto, and we can expect it to get worse, not better. This summer, Lake Ontario levels are the highest they’ve been since 1993. Lake water has been seeping into the concrete parking garages of waterfront condos. Building
managers have been pumping furiously to protect their electrical systems. Most of the city’s sewers aren’t equipped to deal with the rainfalls we’ve experienced in the last few years.
Mississauga has a dedicated levy to help cover the rising infrastructure costs associated with storm water runoff. City of Toronto staffers have proposed similar plans, but Mayor Tory has rejected or shelved them. New taxes could hinder his re-election plans.
Still, Tory knows he has to do something. Now that Trump has pulled out of the Paris climate accord, state and municipal governments across North America have taken the lead in protecting the environment. The City of Toronto has appointed its first chief resilience officer, whose job will be to help Toronto prepare for catastrophic events such as the recent flooding. And Tory is getting serious about TransformTO, an ambitious, expensive plan to reduce greenhouse gases that’s been in the works for a decade.
The $1.2-billion commitment from Tory, Wynne and Trudeau to naturalize the mouth of the Don River illustrates how important flood management is to the future of this city. Without massive efforts to protect the Port Lands, redevelopment would be impossible, and flooding in the area could be devastating. Climate change action once seemed like a good idea. Now it’s a necessity.