LaSalle residents debate the cause of recent flooding
LaSalle residents are wondering where to point fingers after a heavy rainstorm Saturday night led to flooding on their streets.
Locals in the Heritage Estates and Oliver Farms areas are pointing their fingers mainly at the aging drainage system and the new Rt. Hon. Herb Gray Parkway.
"People are saying is it the parkway that caused the flooding? Is it the drainage that caused the flooding?" said Mayor Ken Antaya. "I'm reluctant to say it was the parkway, as I'm reluctant to say the storm drainage in that area is deficient … It's just this perfect storm, everything was sort of moving together in this small portion of our town."
Antaya says the main reason the storm caused flooding was that it came on suddenly in a flat, residential area that just isn't equipped to deal with that amount of rain in such a short period of time. He also warned that due to climate change this sort of unusual weather may occur more often in the future.
"I feel bad for the residents and we're going to do what we can to help them out," he added.
But, it turns out there isn't much the town can do. Drainage systems that would prevent this sort of thing are not practical due to cost, says the mayor. And if residents have any damage caused, such as a flooded basement, they would have to go through their insurance company, he noted.
No funding
The town had applied for funding to update the drainage system, which is more than 40 years old, but got turned down mere weeks before the flood this weekend.
"That was disappointing because we thought we had a perfect application," he said.
Antaya said he felt LaSalle did not get the $6 million in funding — split evenly between the federal, provincial and local governments — because LaSalle is well managed, compared to some other local areas.
"We are proud of how the way we manage, but we feel as if there should be some reward at the end of the rainbow, as well."
Residents want answers
LaSalle resident Brian Hopson believes the finger should be pointed at both the aging infrastructure and the new parkway.
The "very frustrated" resident says he's had no luck getting answers from the town or the feds on whether the parkway could be a contributing factor to the flooding this year, or last year.
Antaya and representatives for the parkway, say engineers are looking in to both the drainage and the parkway to see if either, or both, contributed to the flooding.
The parkway will enact corrective measures if necessary.
In the meantime, the mayor advises LaSalle residents invest in sump pumps to protect their properties in the future.
