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Our questionHow could the city protect and sustain itself from unforeseen natural disaster?
Natural Disaster: Floods
We decided to focus on one natural disaster, which is floods. Since the flood in 2013 had a great impact on the city of Toronto, it is important to consider what we can do to better protect the city from this.
Past Floods:
On July 8th 2013, Toronto was flooded causing property damage of 850 million dollars to the city. This flood is recorded as Ontario’s most expensive natural disaster. The repercussions of the flood included blocked off streets, highways, subway systems, damaged cars, loss of power, and thousands of people stranded. In addition, many of Torontonians’ basements were not strong enough to withstand the flood causing permanent damage to their houses. Many people were forced to evacuate their homes temporarily. Public affairs advisor Tanya BruckMueller announced to Toronto that: “There’s not much to say. Please make sure to check in on your neighbours, your family and friends..”
It is evident from Toronto’s loss due to the flood, the city is not prepared for a another natural disaster that could occur in the future. After this flood, the city has started on improvements throughout the city.
Current Situation/Context
- Data collection improvements allow us to set up access points in more remote locations across Ontario. We can now record precipitation in areas that were completely unaccessible before.
- Toronto’s rain mapping is also improving By combining with Mississauga and Peel Region’s data, and data from across Canada, we can get a much more comprehensive picture of rainfall patterns on a larger scale. As time goes on we can consistently track and compare weather patterns to see how much, and to what scale, climate change is affecting flood rates.
- Advising people about avoiding basement flood preventions and informing them on how to fix their basements.
Action to takeIn order for Toronto to be ready for the next flood that may occur, the city must take further precautions to reduce the impacts and consequences that will occur due to the flood. For one, Toronto’s government should adapt to the new technology that is being innovated. For example, there has been a new piece of technology that allows us to track weather patterns better than ever before. It will allow us to see each drop of rain as it is collected, allowing for real-time alarming and flood forecasting once rainfall hits critical thresholds. Then, automated alarms are triggered after certain volumes are reached, and operation staff and flood maintenance workers can be notified immediately of sharp water increases. This will help prevent any future floods that may occur as the city will be aware of the circumstances before it reaches the point where nothing can be done to help.
Toronto can also invest in heated tipping bucket rain gauges. They can also monitor frozen precipitation by triggering read switches after snow or frozen rain melts and reaches a certain volume.
There should also be an implementation of unique protection systems like self-closing flood barriers as well as larger-scale dams. By having large dams, the flood water will be trapped and will be released to the river below the dam or stored or diverted for other uses to ensure that it does not flood the city.
The city’s aging water infrastructure is also struggling to manage the volume of rain surging through. By investing in having larger drainage systems will prevent the water from overflowing and ending up flooding the streets and homes as it will able to obtain all the water.
Toronto should also invest in flood controls for buildings. Methods used to reduce or prevent flood waters include water gates which can be rolled down in minutes acting as a wall so the water does not enter into the building.
