Brampton residents grappling with flood damage after area pelted with month's worth of rain
People in several Brampton neighbourhoods are grappling with swamped basements and other property damage Monday, one day after heavy rainfall caused localized flooding — and Environment Canada is warning the Greater Toronto Area could see more of the same Monday night.
Prince Sharma was one of dozens of people who called the city about flood damage Sunday night. He told CBC News he was having dinner with his family when the storm hit. He said he heard running water so he went to inspect the basement of his Hardgate Crescent home, located near Wanless and Van Kirk drives.
"I opened the door and the water was just, like, going crazy," Sharma said. "And within a few minutes, the whole basement filled with water."
After about an hour, the floodwaters reached two feet in height, Sharma said.
"It was all dirty water from the sewage," he said, adding that his neighbours experienced the same problem.
City of Brampton spokesperson Natalie Stogdill said 67 calls came in, with reports ranging from flooded basements to water pooling on roads to blocked catch basins. The city says the hardest hit areas were a subdivision that was under construction near Hurontario Street and Mayfield Road and an underpass at Kennedy and Rutherford roads.
Sharma said he called his insurance company and the city, but there wasn't much response. The water drained from his basement overnight, but he said he's left with "a lot of damage" to furniture and has no hot water.
"The city just gave us an ETA. They said they have other urgent issues to deal with at this point," Sharma said, noting that municipal workers have been assigned, but he hasn't seen anyone since last night.
Sharma hopes the process can be expedited because he's worried his family could be exposed to mould.
"It's smelly. There's a lot of dirt in the whole basement," he said.
Meanwhile, Jitesh Wadhwa, who also lives on Hardgate, says he came down to his basement in the middle of the night and was surprised to find his parents cleaning up the flood damage. He said his father suspects it was sewer water.
"They had to take off the covering for the wood, the floorings," said Wadhwa.
"It was a pretty big storm — our neighbours had it a lot worse than us, though."
'More than a monthly rain in one go'
Environment Canada meteorologist Gerald Cheng said 100 millimetres of rain fell in the last 24 hours in the Tullamore area of Brampton, located near Airport and Mayfield roads, while a gauge at Heart Lake reported 85 mm of precipitation.
Cheng said the numbers are "quite staggering," as the "normal" monthly rainfall at Pearson International Airport is 78 millimetres.
"So, you're talking about more than a monthly rain in just one go, in a few hours, so that's quite significant," he said.
The thunderstorms that developed over the region this past weekend were "slow moving," he said, noting that means the winds were not strong enough to push the storm fast enough, so a large amount of rain fell in a concentrated area.
More rain expected in Toronto, York Region
The Greater Toronto Area is not out of the woods just yet. Cheng said up to 50 millimetres of rain is still expected over the next 24 hours, if thunderstorms materialize.
"Again, they will be slow moving, and so we could expect the same conditions unfortunately," he said, adding that the risk of thunderstorms and "copious amounts of rain" are expected to move through eastern Ontario Tuesday.
As of Monday afternoon, special weather statements are in effect for Toronto and York Region on Monday, with 30 to 50 millimetres of rain expected.
The Toronto and Region Conservation Authority issued a flood watch Monday morning that will continue until Tuesday.
The City of Brampton is reminding residents to exercise caution around standing water and to report flooding by calling 311.
