Burlington continues to focus on needs of residents following Aug. 4 storm

Burlington, Ont. – Aug. 29, 2014—The City of Burlington, Halton Region, the Burlington Community Foundation and other community partners continue to focus on the needs of Burlington residents after a reported 3,097 homes were flooded as the result of an intense Aug. 4 storm.

The city activated its Emergency Operations Centre, the Burlington Fire Department responded to emergencies across the city and the city’s roads and parks maintenance staff moved quickly to close affected roads and respond to urgent flood conditions and hazards.

“On Aug. 4, nearly 200 millimetres of rain fell in about three hours. According to weather experts, no infrastructure could possibly handle that amount of rain in that period of time,” said Scott Stewart, general manager of development and infrastructure. “City crews worked around the clock to clean up the immediate damage from the storm, making our streets, creeks and parks safe and accessible. At the same time, our attention was on the needs of our residents as we opened evacuation centres and co-ordinated our recovery activities with community agencies, such as the Red Cross and Samaritan’s Purse.”

The city and the region both set up website pages to provide storms updates at www.burlington.ca/flood and www.halton.ca/flood. Here are some key updates.

City of Burlington
On Aug. 14, Burlington City Council approved a direction to Halton Region to give immediate help to about 80 homes that have been flooded more than once, including but not limited to Aug. 4 and May 13, 2014.

The city also approved moving forward with an application to receive Ontario Disaster Recovery Assistance Program funding. Under the ODRAP funding, a municipality must set up a fund and have a committee in place to administer it. The province can then give the municipality as much as $2 for every $1 raised. The city filed an application with the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing on Aug. 22.

The city is also setting up a program to help homeowners with the cost of building permit fees directly related to preventing future flood damage.

Halton Region
Halton Region received 3,097 flood-related calls as a result of the storm.

The region provides two programs to help support residents who have experienced flooding due to sewer back-up. These programs include;

Sewer Backup Flooding Grant (ex-gratia grant program): Basements that have flooded due to a sanitary sewer backup may qualify for financial assistance of $1,000. This grant may be used to either offset the cost of the deductible amount on a personal home insurance policy or help with flood-related cleanup costs.

The Basement Flooding Prevention Subsidy Program: This provides residents with a one-time subsidy to a maximum of $2,725 to assist residents who have a history of basement floods caused by a backup or surcharge of the sanitary sewer system. It is also available to residents who have not experienced flooding but would like to correct improper storm water connections and install a backwater valve.

Residents can learn more about both regional programs and apply by visiting www.halton.ca/flood or by calling 311.

Canadian Red Cross 
The Canadian Red Cross, hired by the city and region to organize volunteers to visit homes affected by the flood, visited 10,869 homes. The Red Cross collected information from residents regarding the impacts of the storm on individual households. The work of the Red Cross is now completed and the city and region are reviewing the data collected.

Samaritan’s Purse and World Renew 
Samaritan’s Purse, an international relief agency with a base in Hamilton, worked with World Renew out of Burlington to organize volunteers to clean up basements and yards after the flooding. Samaritan’s Purse responded to 51 requests and organized another 24 cleanup requests through other agencies. The Burlington Professional Firefighters Association helped organize volunteers and participated in the cleanup.

Samaritan’s Purse has now finished its volunteer work in Burlington.

Burlington Community Foundation Flood Relief 
The Burlington Community Foundation is leading a community-driven flood relief campaign to help residents who have immediate needs as a result of the flood but whose needs are not covered by traditional resources. The flood relief effort has a goal of raising $2 million, and has raised $150,900 as of Aug. 29. More details, including how to make a claim, will be available on Sept. 3 at www.burlingtonfoundation.org.

“The amount of community support, spirit and resilience is heartwarming and extremely encouraging,” said Mayor Rick Goldring. “The community has galvanized, and continues to pull together to help those who are in need, whether through cleaning up basements or raising money. On behalf of my colleagues on City Council, I want to thank everyone for their efforts and reiterate that there is still more to do to help everyone in our city recover from the storm of Aug. 4.”

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Media contact:
General Manager of Development and Infrastructure
Scott Stewart
905-335-7600, ext. 7839
scott.stewart@burlington.ca