St. Catharines mayor declares state of emergency over flooding; wants Ontario, feds' help
· Toronto Sun
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St. Catharines Mayor Mat Siscoe declared a state of emergency on Monday afternoon in his city following significant flooding over the last week that has had widespread effects on “thousands” of homes and property.
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The declaration follows a pair of big storms that brought more than 140 mm of rain to areas across the city last Tuesday and Wednesday and again on Sunday night .
In fact, Siscoe sent out a video message on social media on Sunday night from his own flooded basement, for the second time this week, saying: “This message is for my federal and provincial colleagues. The city of St. Catharines, for the second time in five days, is dealing with more than 100 mm of rain, about a hurricane’s worth, dropped on the city in a short period of time. And thus far we’ve been dealing with it on our own. There has been no disaster relief assistance offered by either the provincial or federal government. We’ve gone through the normal channels. We’ve worked as hard as we can with the bureaucracy to see what can be done, but still the city has been left to fend for itself.”
In a news release, the city says the storms have overwhelmed St. Catharines’ infrastructure, including roads and sewer/stormwater, and have caused flooding that has affected homes, businesses, city facilities, and significant property damage, including shoreline erosion to private and public property.
Emergency centre has been active since the first storm last Tuesday
The city’s Emergency Operations Centre has remained active since Tuesday morning to coordinate response efforts and prioritize resources as recovery continues.
The city says the declaration ensures that the city has all tools available in its response and recovery and further supports ongoing requests for help from other levels of government.
“I am respectfully requesting at this time that the federal and provincial governments get together and find a way to provide some form of disaster relief assistance to the city of St. Catharines,” said Siscoe in his video posted Sunday.
“Again, no infrastructure can handle a hurricane’s worth of rain on Tuesday and then again on Sunday. And our city is no different from the other cities in this country.”
Updates from the city, along with links to resources and supports for those who have experienced flooding are available here .
The Sun sent inquiries to the provincial ministry for Emergency Preparedness and Response and the federal equivalent, Public Safety Canada, but did not get a response as of late Monday afternoon.