After suffering two 100-year floods in two years, the City of Windsor is so serious about addressing basement flooding; it is embarking on a 50-year plan to fix the problem.
Windsor City Council signed off on the $5-billion plan Monday morning.
"It just shows the seriousness of this issue," said Ward One Councillor Fred Francis. "This is a problem that I want to resolve, and I know all the other councillors on council have committed to resolving it too."
In 2016, and again in 2017, thousands of homes flooded during significant rainfall events. In 2017, 200mm of rain fell in less than 24 hours. Insurance companies paid out $300-million to homeowners overwhelmed by water.
Heavy rain in Windsor-Essex caused flooding across many roadways in the region, also affecting homes and businesses on September 29, 2016. (Photo by Ricardo Veneza)
"I know I've seen it in South Windsor," he recounted. "Going into people's homes and in their basement when their carpets are soaked, and their photographs are soaked, their furniture is soaked, and their drywall is soaked. Some of them no longer have insurance because it's a repeat flood occurrence."
Francis said several projects are already in the works, including environmental assessments on the St. Paul Pump Station and the East Marsh Pump Station. A report to city council also said Tranby Avenue is undergoing reconstruction, while work continues on Belle Isle View and Eastlawn Boulevard. A flow monitoring program is already in the works.
Next year or soon after, phase three of sewer work on Matthew Brady Boulevard will start along with a new relief sewer on Cedarview, and a trunk sewer on Belleperche.
Even if the work is not in your neighbourhood, Francis said homeowners across the city would benefit.
"What happens on the east end affects what happens on the south side," he explained. "The sewers underneath are really a network, and they don't respect ward boundaries."
He said the city is ready to spend $150-million on projects in the short term, but the idea is to chip away at deficiencies in the system year after year.
A federal grant from the Disaster Mitigation and Adaptation Fund worth $32.1-million will help pay for it. A second request from the city under the program was rejected, but it is still waiting to see if the federal government will approve a third request.
It is not common for city councils to make such a long-term commitment, but Francis said the plan would be flexible to meet needs as the climate changes.
"If things change, which I'm sure they will in the coming years, the plan will likely change too," he said. "Hopefully, one day soon [we'll] eliminate basement flooding in the City of Windsor."