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The west-Ottawa communities where about 1,200 basements flooded in a July 24 downpour were simply not designed to handle such a heavy volume of water, according to a city report presented to council Wednesday.
But since the neighbourhoods met the standards of their time — and the sewer systems functioned as intended — the city is not liable for what could amount to hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of damage to homes, city solicitor Rick O’Connor advised.
So far, the city has received 800 claims — including 64 uninsured claims — stemming from the July 24 floods. The city will pay the claims if it determines it is liable, but that is likely to be in few, if any, cases, according to
O’Connor. He explained that the municipality can only be held liable if it was negligent in the design, construction, operation or maintenance of the sewage system.
“I’m very surprised the city is going to take the position they weren’t negligent here,” said Allan Hubley, the president of the Glen Cairn community association.
Council also heard an admission Wednesday that as calls from residents poured in to the city’s 311 hotline on the night of the storm, many people could have made the call to escalate the city’s emergency response — but nobody did.
Kanata South Councillor Peggy Feltmate said she is frustrated trying to figure out who might be legally responsible for the problems of the flood-prone community — whether it’s the city, the provincial Environment Ministry, developers, engineering consultants, or the Ontario Municipal Board, which has a history of approving development over municipal protests.
“It’s hard for me at this point to understand how the city doesn’t bear some liability,” she said. “And developers, they do their reports, they built the houses, and they walk away and they’re gone.”
To help the flood-ravaged homeowners, council passed three motions by Feltmate waiving the sewage surcharge on their next water bill, the administrative fees for replacing flood-damaged city documents, and the rental fees for facilities hosting fundraising events to help flood victims.
Council also asked the city’s planning and environment committee to consider two motions by Kanata West Councillor Marianne Wilkinson, which would pay a compassionate grant of $1,000 to anyone hit by three floods in 15 years, and to put $2 million more into a protective plumbing program that helps residents install backflow prevention devices in their homes.
Regarding the city’s response to the flooding, deputy manager Steve Kanellakos said he believed that front-line workers did an excellent job in their immediate response, with fire, paramedics, and public works crews rushing to the scene. However, after the immediate crisis was over, there was no further effort to help residents until three days later, as no one seemed to understand the full scope of the problem.
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