That rainy day is here

We’ve all heard the adage about the wisdom of putting money aside for a rainy day, but have we actually been doing it?

If the damage caused by harsh weather last week is anything to go by, it’s apparent that we are not fully prepared.

From one end of the country to the other, heavy rains and high winds have wreaked havoc, flooding properties in Cape Breton, washing out vital road connections in southwest Newfoundland, and causing landslides, severe flooding and the loss of at least four lives in British Columbia.

In Ingonish River, N.S., 278 millimetres of rain fell in just 24 hours — “the worst rainstorm event ever,” according to longtime Ingonish resident Frank Doucette.

The town of Port aux Basques, N.L. — a vital Marine Atlantic ferry port — was cut off from the rest of the province by four washouts on the Trans-canada Highway.

“We’re used to wind. We’re used to rain. But we’re not used to this amount all the one time,” said N.L. Industry, Energy and Technology Minister Andrew Parsons.

British Columbia is bracing for a second round of rainfall this weekend.

Clearly, these weather events are not “100year storms.”

In this region, heavy rainfalls are becoming more frequent. Most Atlantic Canadians still shudder at the thought of hurricanes and post-tropical storms like Juan, Dorian and Igor and the swath of destruction they left behind — and these were all within the last 20 years.

When it comes to climate change, it’s not only reducing greenhouse gases that we have to be worried about, it’s strengthening infrastructure, too, in order to withstand the lashing winds, heavy rains and coastal erosion that are becoming more and more the norm.

Addressing the devastation in British Columbia, federal Emergency Preparedness Minister Bill Blair acknowledged that more needs to be done to “improve building a more resilient environment for Canadians.”

“It means making sure that we make the right investments to deal with the impact of climate change as well as addressing the causes of climate change,” he said.

That’s a warning that was made clear in a September 2019 report by the Federation of Canadian Municipalities and the Insurance Bureau of Canada.

It said there is an urgent need for an ambitious, long-term climate adaptation investment plan for the country — one that could cost $5.3 billion annually, funded by all three levels of government.

It says Atlantic Canada, with its great expanses of coastline, will require more funding than other parts of the country, to shore up dikes, roads, buildings and watertreatment systems.

Last week’s pounding rain, flooded streets and homes and vicious winds are surely a bellwether of the climate change we will continue to experience in our own backyards.

All levels of government need to enact plans to bolster infrastructure now to prevent greater losses in the future.

The cost of doing nothing is far too high.