People in several Brampton neighborhoods are struggling with flooded basements and other property damage Monday, a day after heavy rain caused localized flooding, and Environment Canada is warning the Greater Toronto Area could see more of the same Monday at night.
Prince Sharma was one of dozens of people who called the city about flood damage on Sunday night. He told CBC News he was having dinner with his family when the storm hit. He said he heard water running, so he went to inspect the basement of his home on Hardgate Crescent, located near Wanless and Van Kirk’s units.
“I opened the door and the water went crazy,” Sharma said. “And within minutes, the whole basement was filled with water.”
After about an hour, the flood waters reached a height of two feet, Sharma said.
“It was all dirty water from the sewers,” he said, adding that his neighbors suffered the same problem.
City of Brampton spokeswoman Natalie Stogdill said 67 calls have been received, with reports ranging from flooded basements to water logging 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.
Heavy rain causes flooding in Brampton.
. pic.twitter.com/l6u8jaA0GJ
—@401_da_sarpanch
Sharma said she called her insurance company and the city, but there wasn’t much of a response. The water was drained from the basement overnight, but he said he has been left with “a lot of damage” to furniture and no hot water.
“The city just gave us an ETA. They told us they have other pressing issues to deal with right now,” said Sharma, who noted that city workers have been assigned, but that he hasn’t seen anyone since yesterday at night.
Sharma is hoping the process can be sped up because she’s worried about her family being exposed to the mold.
“It stinks. There’s a lot of dirt all over the basement,” he said.
The basement of Prince Sharma’s Hardgate Crescent home flooded after heavy rains hit Brampton on Sunday evening. (Martin Trainor/CBC)
Meanwhile, Jitesh Wadhwa, who also lives in Hardgate, says he went down to his basement in the middle of the night and was shocked to find his parents cleaning up the flood damage. He said his father suspects it was sewage water.
“They had to remove the wood paneling, the floors,” Wadhwa said.
“It was a pretty big storm, but our neighbors had it a lot worse than we did.”
“More than a monthly rain at once”
Environment Canada meteorologist Gerald Cheng said 100 millimeters of rain fell in the past 24 hours in the Tullamore area of Brampton, located near Airport and Mayfield roads, while a gauge on the lake Heart reported 85mm of rainfall.
Cheng said the numbers are “pretty amazing” as the “normal” monthly rainfall at Pearson International Airport is 78 millimeters.
Part of the damaged basement floor in Sharma’s Hardgate Crescent home. (Martin Trainor/CBC)
“So you’re talking about more than a month’s worth of rain all at once, in just a few hours, so that’s pretty significant,” he said.
The storms that developed in the region last weekend were “slow,” he said, noting that means the winds weren’t strong enough to push the storm fast enough, so a lot of rain fell in a concentrated area.
More rain is expected in Toronto, York Region
The Greater Toronto Area is not out of the woods yet. Cheng said up to 50 millimeters of rain is still expected over the next 24 hours, if storms materialize.
“Once again, they will move slowly and unfortunately we could expect the same conditions,” he said, adding that the risk of thunderstorms and “abundant amounts of rain” is expected to move east Ontario Tuesday.
As of Monday afternoon, special weather statements are in effect for Toronto and York Region on Monday, with 30 to 50 millimeters of rain expected.
The Toronto and Region Conservation Authority issued a flood warning Monday morning that will last until Tuesday.
The City of Brampton is reminding residents to be cautious of standing water and to report flooding by calling 311.