Cars are partially submerged in flood waters in the Don Valley following heavy rain in Toronto on July 16.Arlyn McAdorey/The Canadian Press
Blair Feltmate is head of the Intact Centre on Climate Adaptation at the University of Waterloo.
Canadian homeowners, 1.5 million of whom are no longer eligible for flood insurance, must take action to protect their homes from flooding. This need was on display with Toronto’s mid-July storm that flooded thousands of homes and displaced many of the 500,000 people in the Greater Toronto Area who rent basement apartments. Fuelling the need for better preparedness, driven by climate change, future storms will be more severe.
Meanwhile, governments at all levels have a history of making lofty announcements to help homeowners and then walking away. In 2022, Ottawa announced the Climate Adaptation Home Rating Program to “help Canadians to protect their homes and communities against flood.” After the announcement, the program went silent. In 2016, the federal government released the Pan-Canadian Framework on Clean Growth and Climate Change that made recommendations on flood protection that have since sat on a shelf. In 2017, Toronto created the job of Chief Resiliency Officer, only to cancel the position two years later.
The good news for homeowners is that there is much self-directed guidance available to limit flood exposure. But before turning to that guidance, it is necessary to appreciate the costs of not preparing homes for flooding. Lack of understanding on costs may explain why homeowners have been slow to protect their homes.
With the Toronto flood of 2024, Pearson International Airport recorded its fifth wettest day ever, with 100 millimetres of rain falling in three hours. The Insurance Bureau of Canada estimates this flood is comparable to the flood that hit Toronto in 2013 which resulted in about $1-billion in insurable claims, with a big chunk driven by basement flooding.
The cost of not being prepared for flooding does not stop at $1-billion. For every $1 in insurable loss, $3-4 in uninsurable damage is borne by homeowners, businesses and communities. The total price tag for Toronto’s three-hour flood-fest may therefore be in the zone of $4-billion, or roughly $1.3-billion an hour. The axiom “history teaches us that history doesn’t teach us” is well illustrated when contrasting Toronto’s 2013 and 2024 floods.
Lack of preparedness by municipalities for flood risk is not limited to Toronto. In 2015 and 2020, the University of Waterloo quantified the preparedness of 16 major Canadian cities for flood risk. The average score of all cities was C+ in both 2015 and 2020.
For homeowners with limited or no insurance coverage, the $54,000 average cost of a flooded basement can be sobering.
Clearly, it is in the interest of homeowners to protect their property from flooding.
It’s not hard. Over the past eight years – with support from the Standards Council of Canada, National Research Council, Canadian Standards Association and the Insurance Bureau of Canada – Canadian researchers have developed practical and cost-effective flood guidelines that homeowners can follow to protect their home.
Flood protection can be as simple as ensuring that the home’s sump pump (a device used to pump water out of a basement) works properly. In the aftermath of the Toronto flood of 2013, thousands of homeowners with flooded basements reported that their sump pump failed.
Additionally, homeowners with a sump pump should invest in battery backup power – the time the pump is needed is when the big storms hit, which often coincides with power outages. For homeowners with a sump pump, 84 per cent have no backup power. Installing plastic covers over ground level window wells, and disconnecting downspouts to direct water away from foundations, are other simple flood fixes.
Governments could contribute to flood risk mitigation by making such solutions to flood risk familiar to all. When presented with actionable steps to limit flood risk, within six months 70 per cent of homeowners take two or more actions, surveys show. Homeowners will protect their homes when they know what to do.
Environment and Climate Change Canada has a newly launched National Adaptation Strategy in 2023. Hopefully, through that program, there is potential to break the cycle of hollow government announcements on adaptation.
One NAS target states that, “by 2025, 50 per cent of Canadians have taken concrete actions to better prepare for and respond to climate change risks facing the household.” This target, with a short-term time horizon, should motivate government to help homeowners prepare for severe flooding that is literally coming through the front door and down the steps.