ASSESSING THE DAMAGE
Flood victims hope province backs calls for relief
The province has started assessing flood damage in Windsor and Tecumseh — while residents keep their fingers crossed.
Staff from the Ministry of Municipal Affairs visited the area on Friday, with a provincial disaster-assessment team scheduled to arrive Monday, with one goal: determine if the area qualifies for disaster relief.
Minister of Municipal Affairs Bill Mauro will decide if Thursday’s torrential rainstorm and subsequent flooding fit the criteria for the Disaster Recovery Assistance for Ontarians program, which would provide uninsured homeowners funding to help with storm damage.
“It’s really important,” Mayor Drew Dilkens said Friday. “The whole reason (Tecumseh Mayor) Gary McNamara and myself declared a state of emergency is because the rain overwhelmed our system. To have the minister add this community to the list would mean a great deal for the residents who are unable to get insurance for basement flooding.”
Dilkens said Windsor has spent more than $300 million the last 10 years on sewer infrastructure upgrades but that no city in Canada would have been able to deal with the deluge.
Some 1,600 calls came into Windsor’s 311 system on Thursday, 1,100 of them about flooded basements. Tecumseh received 600 — and Friday’s numbers were not yet counted.
“It’s the greatest rainfall we’ve had in the history of this community,” McNamara said at a Friday press conference, noting that he feels encouraged the ministry so quickly sent staff members to the region to decide on funding. “We’re going to be doing everything we can to make sure the minister makes that decision.”
McNamara said the 190 millimetres of rain the town’s gauges registered — much of it within five hours — is 21/2 times the entire monthly average for September.
The Town of Lakeshore provided sandbags for residents to help shore up their properties against rising waterways, such as the Puce River and Pike Creek, with more rain forecast.
“I am aware of the heavy rainfall event that occurred in the Windsor and Tecumseh area Sept. 29, and my office has reached out to local officials to express our concern,” Minister Mauro said Friday in a statement. “We would like to thank city staff and first responders for their work.” The torrential rain not only flooded hundreds of area basements but forced a number of motorists to abandon vehicles in swamped streets.
“Ministry staff are working closely with municipal staff to provide information on the province’s new disaster recovery assistance programs,” Mauro said. “Once the assessment team has completed its work, a decision will be made on whether to activate the disaster recovery assistance program.
“Helping individuals and communities recover following a natural disaster is a priority for our government. Ontario offers assistance when a natural disaster damages municipal infrastructure or leads to extraordinary emergency response costs. We also assist with damage to eligible private property.”
The province offers two programs that may apply.
The Municipal Disaster Recovery Assistance program helps municipalities that have sustained emergency response costs, or damage to essential property or infrastructure, as a result of a natural disaster.
The Disaster Recovery Assistance for Ontarians program provides financial assistance to individuals, small businesses, farmers and not-for-profit organizations that have experienced damage to or loss of essential property as a result of a natural disaster.
The ministry points out that neither program is a substitute for insurance. Some insurance companies, however, deny flood coverage to homeowners who have already had existing claims from flooding.
For more information on the Disaster Recovery Assistance for Ontarians program, visit mah.gov. on.ca, and click on “Disaster Recovery Assistance.”
Coun. Irek Kusmierczyk, meanwhile, called the damage in areas of his ward devastating.
“I was out Thursday from morning till night, talking to residents in both east Riverside and Forest Glade,” Kusmierczyk said. “What I saw was complete, widespread damage. You walk up to somebody’s front door and knock and you see the stress and devastation on their faces.”
Many people he encountered were clad in rubber boots and were pumping water from basements.
“It’s heart-wrenching when you see folks’ lives turned upside down,” he said, adding that some people have been flooded several times and won’t leave on vacation without taking carpets and other items off their basement floors. “You could just see the despair.”
Kusmierczyk is pleased the city plans to pick up large bulk items, such as ruined sofas and carpets, from those areas most affected by the flood. “We want to help residents as much as possible,” he said. “Everyone is in recovery mode.”
The city will base its beefed up garbage collection on calls that come into 311, and therefore affected residents are encouraged to call in.
The 311 call centre will be open Saturday from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m., even though it is normally closed on weekends.