Community Preparedness for Extreme Weather Events
Are you ready?
Green 13 in collaboration with CREW (crewtoronto.ca) initiated a Ward 13/14 Roundtable on Community Preparedness for Extreme Weather Events. Learn more on this blog https://tinyurl.com/G13roundtable
Help boost preparedness, plan future information sessions, and expand this network.
Building Community Preparedness for Extreme Weather Events
At the end of 2012 the City published Toronto’s Future Weather and Climate Drivers Study .
The summer of 2016 we experienced heat waves, such as are anticipated in the study. Heat waves are one example of extreme weather for which we need to prepare ourselves. Extended power outages can result from events such as an ice storm, flooding, heat waves, and other kinds of extreme weather events.
The flooding and ice storm of 2013, the heat waves of 2016, serve as a wake up call for our community. We can rise to the challenge of building greater preparedness - both at the household level and at the community level for future extreme weather events.
On January 14, 2017, Green 13 held the inaugural Ward 13/14 Roundtable on Community Preparedness for Extreme Weather Events. http://www.green13toronto.org/blog/ward-1314-roundtable-community-preparedness-extreme-weather-events We brought together representatives from as many stakeholder groups as possible in our ward in order to connect and begin to build a network of preparedness for extreme weather events.
Our call for volunteers!
1. If your community group/association was not represented at the January 14 '17 meeting, please contact green13@green13toronto.org
2. Help bring word of the Get Emergency Ready! toolkit to your household, block, neighbourhood, association.
http://www1.toronto.ca/City%20Of%20Toronto/Office%20of%20Emergency%20Management/Files/pdf/O/A1605624%20GetEmergencyReadyGuideAccessible-v4.pdf
3. Share word of the City’s portals:
• Extreme Weather Portal: http://www1.toronto.ca/wps/portal/contentonly?vgnextoid=f33dd8f3e3214510VgnVCM10000071d60f89RCRD
• Emergency Management: http://www1.toronto.ca/wps/portal/contentonly?vgnextoid=4b3307ceb6f8e310VgnVCM10000071d60f89RCRD
and of the CREW website, Community Resilience to Extreme Weather: http://www.crewtoronto.ca
4. Help develop a web platform to house information pertaining to Ward 13/14 Extreme Weather Preparedness
5. Help plan future information sessions, and expand the network. If your community group was not represented at the January 14 meeting, please contact green13@green13toronto.org
6. Help with social media and postering for events
Public Health and Climate Change
Tuesday, April 11 '17, 6:45 pm
Annette Library, 145 Annette St.
Carol Mee, Manager, Healthy Public Policy, Toronto Public Health, is the lead manager for the recent "Climate Change and Health Strategy 2016" for the City. Ms. Mee spoke about public health and climate change (e.g. heat waves; extreme cold; insect-borne disease such as West Nile virus, Lyme disease; asthma…), new Ward Health Profiles (Ward 13, Ward 14), and considerations around vulnerability (e.g. confidentiality). This presentation was part of a series of follow-up events emerging from the recent Ward 13/14 Roundtable on Community Preparedness for Extreme Weather events, http://www.green13toronto.org/blog/ward-1314-roundtable-community-preparedness-extreme-weather-events An excellent opportunity to meet your neighbours, and help build community resilience.
Let’s look at flooding and stormwater management here in Ward 13 and the west side of Ward 14
Wednesday, January 17, 2018 at 6:45 pm
Swansea Town Hall, (Rousseau Room), 95 Lavinia Ave.
At the inaugural Roundtable held January 14, 2017 on Community Preparedness for Extreme Weather Events, one of the topics identified for closer examination was flooding and stormwater management. On January 17, 2018, an evening focused on this was co-sponsored by Green 13 and Councillor Doucette; we were pleased to welcome the following speakers, and thank them for sharing their expertise:
• Councillor Doucette, Ward 13
• Nathan Plato, Analyst | Flood Risk Management | Engineering Services | Restoration & Infrastructure | Toronto and Region Conservation Authority for The Living City
• Santessa Henriques, GIS Technician, CREW, Community Resilience to Extreme Weather
• David Kellershohn, Manager | Stormwater Management | Water Infrastructure Management | Toronto Water
• Josie Franch, Toronto Water
• Robert Muir, M.A.Sc., P.Eng.| Manager, Stormwater | Environmental Services Dept.| City of Markham
• Pete Karageorgos, Director, Consumer & Industry Relations | Insurance Bureau of Canada | Ontario
These photos were taken that evening by Snap'd: https://bloorwest.snapd.com/events/view/1111735
Below are links to the various resources which our excellent presenters shared:
Flooding maps:
• Flood Plain Map created by TRCA (interactive):
https://trca.ca/conservation/flood-risk-management/flood-plain-map-viewer/
• City of Toronto's Basement Flooding Environmental Assessment: www.toronto.ca/bfea
• Mapping prepared by map makers Jose La O Osorio and Santessa Henriques: https://www.arcgis.com/apps/MapSeries/index.htmlappid=178eea85c5db42729e8df18c7c8ccd48 The map pertaining to flooding in Ward 13 (and the W side of Ward 14) is derived from TRCA mapping. Once you click on the “Hazards” tab, you will find the mapping first for urban heat island and then for flooding.
• Mapping shared by Robert Muir through his blog: www.cityfloodmap.com
City of Toronto Resources:
• Stormwater Management – www.toronto.ca/water
• Basement Flooding Protection Program - www.toronto.ca/basementflooding
• Managing Rain and Melted Snow - https://www.toronto.ca/services-payments/water-environment/managing-rain-melted-snow/
• T.O. INview 2018 www.map.toronto.ca/toinview/ and https://www.toronto.ca/services-payments/building-construction/infrastructure-city-construction/current-construction-projects/ (Click on ‘Planned Construction’)
Video:
Reducing Flood Risk in Toronto
David Kellershohn M. Eng., P. Eng., Manager, Stormwater Management, at Toronto Water, presents at ICLR Forum, Feb. 19, 2016: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DxsnFOcLP-I
Insurance Information:
• www.ibc.ca
• A Guide To Residential Water Damage and Flood Insurance: http://assets.ibc.ca/Documents/Brochures/A-Guide-to-Residential-Water-Damage-and-Flood-Insurance.pdf
Big picture:
Climate Change, Floods, and Municipal Risk Sharing in Canada / Report (2017) by Daniel Henstra and Jason Thistlethwaite, University of Waterloo
https://munkschool.utoronto.ca/imfg/uploads/373/1917_imfg_no_30_online_final.pdf
Rain Solutions:
• https://www.torontogreen.ca/rain/
• http://www.raincommunitysolutions.ca/en/
