‘It’s heartbreaking’: Burlington residents turn to city for guidance in wake of flooding

A special council meeting was held in Burlington on Friday to provide an update on the current situation following the catastrophic flooding event earlier this week.

The city remains in a level two emergency according to their website, meaning crews continue to respond to service calls and repair city property.

Burlington saw significant flooding after two storms this week, and the overflow of creeks in the area caused flooding.

The city’s mayor, Marianne Meed Ward, tells CHCH News the hardest hit area remains Cavendish Drive, where a portion of land beside Highway 407 failed, causing extreme home damage.

Halton Region says as of Thursday it has received around 830 phone calls from residents regarding flooding in their homes.

“Burlington being sort of the highest numbers, I think we’re around 680 calls confirmed where we have recorded basement flooding or houses that have been flooded.”

In the wake of the devastation of the flooding, one Burlington resident tells CHCH News they’re hoping the city will do more to combat future floods.

“I drove by the Cavendish neighbourhood this morning, and honestly, its heartbreaking — it took me back to 2014,” they said.

“This is concerning that these really significant rain events are going to be more present in our future, so we really need to get on it.

READ MORE: Clean-up continues after heavy floods affected Burlington streets

Councilors passed a motion that would also see those who are not eligible, receive payment through the city’s severe weather reserve fund.

“Every amount helps residents. We’re going to investigate whether provincial emergency funding, whether we would qualify to access that on behalf of our residents, that where some significant amounts of funding would be available for residents,” said Mayor Ward.

City staff will present a detailed report to council in the fall about how the flooding happened, what went wrong, and how the city can invest in preventing similar incidents.

READ MORE: Residents evacuated from Mississauga nursing home amid flooding