St. Catharines mayor says it'll take time to recover from recent severe flooding
The first words out of St. Catharines mayor Mat Siscoe's mouth this morning at city hall... concern for people who've lost their basements or homes during this unbelievable flooding. "I just want to acknowledge what our residents are going through... a lot of people are cleaning up for the 2nd time in less than a week. There are some in our community that this is their 3rd cleanup in 2 weeks. I recognize the exhaustion, and the uncertainty, the emotional toll this is taking on folks in our community."
He recalled what he saw on Hanson Court. "There were cars floating down the street, I've never seen that. Those are the sorts of scenes you expect to see from monsoon season, somewhere in Asia. I've never seen that in St. Catharines."
He, along with the Town of Lincoln, declared States of Emergency this weekend. "This has been one of, if not the most significant weather event this community has ever faced. I don't think anyone is under the illusion this is a short term issue, it's going to take time, the impacts will be felt long after the cleanup."
He says thousands of homes have been impacted.
He says the city has used all its resources to help people, adding Premier Doug Ford has pledged help. "The premier has indicated that Ontario Corps [volunteer group for disasters] is being made available, although we haven't seen those folks yet. We had a good meeting, between myself, the deputy fire chief and deputy CAO, had a good meeting with two representatives of Team Rubicon on Saturday, they were going to tour the area."
The mayor had to briefly stop driving on Sunday while visiting a home due to the rain.
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