Flooding « Transition Brockville

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Tag : Flooding (49)

Time to retreat from living on the riskiest waterfront land?

CBC News / Janet Davison / 18 July 2020

Across Canada, flooding has become the most expensive natural disaster, costing $1 billion annually in damage to homes, property and infrastructure, according to the federal Department of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness.

Insurers and many policy experts expect that number will go up. Sea levels are rising. A recent study by researchers at Environment and Climate Change Canada found that climate change has made rainfall more extreme and storms with extreme rainfall more frequent.

While experts see a variety of strategies to help deal with the situation, there is one potential solution people may not want to talk about: When might it be time to retreat from living on the riskiest waterfront properties altogether?

[ FULL ARTICLE ]

Regions brace to fight rising floodwaters and COVID-19

Toronto Star / Laura Osman / 28 March 2020

The last couple of years have taken on a biblical tone in the rural Pontiac region of Quebec.

The small community of about 6,000 has recovered from five natural disasters in just two years. Floods and microbursts have wiped out homes, roads and culverts. Last year’s tornado was the cherry on the cake.

“Our little municipality has become experts at managing crises,” said Mayor Joanne Labadie.

But nothing could prepare them for the possibility of fighting another flood with a global pandemic on their doorstep, she said.

Still, they’re getting ready as best they can.

[ FULL ARTICLE ]

Minister’s statement on St. Lawrence flooding

Recorder & Times / Ronald Zajac / 12 March 2020

The statement from [federal Public Safety Minister Bill] Blair’s office, sent Thursday evening, tied the flooding to climate change, which “is making natural disasters more severe, more frequent, more damaging and more expensive.”

“We need to find innovative and sustainable ways to mitigate the impact of these natural disasters, and to strike a better balance of responsibility for the incurred costs,” it added.

The government is working with other levels of government, academia, indigenous partners, non-governmental organizations and industry leaders to boost flood resilience “and empower everyone to mitigate flood risk,” the statement continued.

“We are also working toward creating a new low-cost national flood insurance program to protect homeowners who are at high risk of flooding and lack adequate insurance protection. We’re also developing a national action plan to assist homeowners at high repeat flood risk, as well as completing flood maps for all of Canada.”

[ FULL ARTICLE ]

Along the Great Lakes, it’s time to prepare for extremes

New York Times / Peter Annin / 13 February 2020

The relentless high water is bound to bring more strife this year even as officials along the Great Lakes continue to promote climate adaptation strategies and resiliency. Armoring the shoreline is one form of adaptation. Property buyouts are another. History will show which strategy is most effective over time. What’s clear is that some people have built too close to the water’s edge. Their property was fine during low water, and they managed to hang on during the record high water of the 1980s, but today’s weather patterns have brought panic.

The devastation has been remarkably widespread, with properties sliding into the lakes from one end of the expansive watershed to the other. In this new era of extremes, property owners, taxpayers — and the officials they elect — will need to take a serious look at their lakefronts and decide whether armoring up is a wise investment, or a Sisyphean venture.

[ FULL ARTICLE ]

Managing Climate Change and Variability Risks in the Great Lakes Region

GLISA / 2016

GLISA supports the region, as it charts its future, facing multiple and simultaneous changes and uncertainties. The Great Lakes region represents a unique socio-ecological system. Bound by the Lakes that shape both its culture and natural resources, Great Lakes communities have experienced dramatic changes in the past five decades, including deep economic downturn, population shifts, and negative environmental impacts. While climate change impacts are projected to exacerbate some of these challenges, leaders in the region are increasingly committed to a sustainable future by leveraging opportunities to mitigate climate impacts and adaptively respond to them.

As a boundary organization, GLISA produces and integrates information from a wide array of scientific fields, helps develop collaborations among stakeholders and organizations with similar goals, and provides climate information to support decision makers throughout the eight Great Lakes states and the province of Ontario.

[ FULL REPORT ]

No disaster aid for new homes in flood plains

The Energy Mix / Mitchell Beer / 07 February 2020

Canadians building or buying new homes in areas at high risk for flooding will no longer have access to federal disaster relief under a new insurance plan set to take effect in the next three years, The Energy Mix has learned.

The new high-risk insurance system, now under development by federal, provincial, and territorial governments, will “replace government assistance and ensure that those who are at high risk pay for their own risk,” said Craig Stewart, vice-president, federal affairs at the Insurance Bureau of Canada, in an interview on the sidelines of Nature Canada’s Nature-Based Climate Solutions Summit in Ottawa.

[ FULL ARTICLE ]

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