Facing the Change: 5 Canadian communities threatened by climate change now
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TORONTO, ONTARIO — Beverly Silva is visibly upset as she pulls her car over — a torrential downpour has made it almost impossible to see the road.
What would be an annoyance for most brings up painful memories for her.
In 2013, a month's worth of rain fell on Toronto in a matter of hours, washing out roads, flooding subways and causing widespread power outages.
Silva rushed to her North York home, finding her basement submerged under nearly a metre of water.
Over the years, the single mother had already repeatedly renovated her red-brick bungalow due to flooding.
After the 2013 storm, she says her insurance company canceled her coverage.
“It wasn’t my fault, it was the city’s fault. The infrastructure was just worn out and wasn’t working,” she says.
Silva had to move out of the home she had lived in for 30 years. She sold it for below market value and now lives in a condo.
“[Flooding] washes away part of your life,” she says.
Blair Feltmate, a climate scientist at the University of Waterloo, says Silva’s story is not unique and Toronto needs to step up its planning to protect its growing population.
In the next 30 to 40 years, the number of rainy days in the city is expected to double, and the thunderstorms will become more extreme.
Toronto has taken some steps to mitigate the effects of heavier rainfalls, including the development of programs to disconnect downspouts and to provide backwater valves and sump pumps to homeowners.
But it may not be enough.
If the financial district were shut down, the cascading negative effects of that would be felt right across the country. Not acting is not an option,” says Blair Feltmate.
To hear more about how climate change is affecting people in Toronto, listen to our radio segment.
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See the full CBC Radio coverage by Annie Bender, Craig Desson and Laura Wright.