Reeling from Toronto flood damage, Rockcliffe residents are unsure how to get help | CBC News

Residents in the city’s Rockcliffe neighbourhood are struggling in the aftermath of last week’s severe storm, which flooded their already flood-prone neighbourhood.

Toronto was pummelled with close to 100 millimetres of rain on July 16, which made the street in front of Brandon Price’s rental home on Cordella Avenue look more like a river.

Rockcliffe-Smythe, an area the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority has labelled as vulnerable to floods, is located west of Weston Road and north of Dundas Street W.

On Monday, Price was among those sorting personal items into the trash for city pickup.

Much was ruined on the property he shares with his wife and two-year-old daughter, he said, which was “just bathing in water for several hours.”

Toronto is working on implementing a flood mitigation strategy for the neighbourhood, but concrete changes are still years away, according to city timelines. 

In an email, a spokesperson said the city also studied 67 areas — Rockcliffe included — to determine the cause of basement flooding and develop improvement plans for sewers. However, no work has been done yet.

In the meantime, residents have been offered no-fault grants for flooding damage. But several people told CBC Toronto that the process has been confusing — leaving them unsure of how to get help. 

Price estimates about half-a-metre of water rushed into his garage — leaving behind a smell of sewage he said has yet to dissipate.

Though Price received a letter this week from his local city councillor, Frances Nunziata, advising homeowners they can apply for a $7,500 no-fault grant for basement flooding damages, he said that does little to help him.

Price said his landlord would need to apply, and the money wouldn’t go to him as the tenant.

He said the flood resulted in thousands of dollars in damaged property, including items from his wedding, baby toys and collectables. The couple’s insurance will only cover up to $5,000, which Price said he doesn’t believe will cover what was lost.  

“It damaged our water heater as well,” he said Monday. “We haven’t had hot water since Tuesday.”

Rockcliffe lacks capacity to hold water: professor

Usman T Khan, an associate professor of civil engineering at York University who studied the Rockcliffe neighbourhood, said storms overwhelm its drainage system. 

“Fundamentally in a lot of these urban neighbourhoods, the issue is we don’t have enough capacity to hold the water when it rains,” he said.

Khan said he wants Toronto to become a “sponge city,” which means adding green space and lakes to divert water to natural areas. Montreal has already implemented this, he said. 

“It’s about using typically natural materials like soil to try and hold water,” Khan said. “It allows water to infiltrate into the ground slowly and can help.”

Mayor Olivia Chow has filed a motion — to be addressed at council on Wednesday — calling on city staff to report on what storm water mitigation programs the city currently offers, and to identify more ways to help homeowners and businesses avoid flooding.

Flood mitigation project could take years

Price said he didn’t expect so much flooding, though when he Googled his street after the flood he found a photo of his home — the driveway completely flooded by a previous storm.

Across the street from Price, Daniel Corral said that when he bought his home last fall, neither he nor his wife were informed it was located on a floodplain. 

The couple is also in the process of tossing out damaged property, including a mattress and their son’s baby toys. Corral said their furnace was damaged by the flood, leaving them with no hot water in addition to water damage in their basement.

He said he finds the compensation process for the no-fault grant “unclear” and is overwhelmed trying to figure out how to protect his home for the future.

“I’m a little bit uneasy because there’s just so many things that we have to take care of,” he said.

WATCH | How Toronto could prepare for floods:

How can Toronto protect itself from flooding?

On Tuesday, Toronto experienced its second major flooding event in 11 years. Residents and experts have been calling on the city to do more to adapt to changing climate, including building a better plan for flood protection. CBC’s Chris Glover has more.

Nunziata told CBC Toronto that homeowners can apply for the grant by calling 311, and that she’s looking to expedite the city’s flood mitigation project.

The project involves road realignments, constructing a new flood protection wall around Black Creek and replacing bridges, according to city council reports. The conservation authority estimates the project will be complete by 2032.

“Hopefully we can start construction by next year,” Nunziata said. “It’s a huge project … and it’s taken so long.”