City Prepares For Long Awaited Melt
Posted March 12, 2008 12:00 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
While most of anxiously await the warmer weather that will finally melt the mammoth mounds of snow dumped on Toronto this winter, others are fearing the inevitable floods that will follow.
Forecasts seemed to suggest such a thaw would take place over the next few days, but they’ve since retracted somewhat. Still, many are concerned.
Lynn Roworths’ basement is prone to flooding, and she can’t help but picture herself knee-deep when spring finally arrives.
“There’s a crack in our foundation that you can’t see right now but it kind of comes in through there, and it just can’t drain through when there’s the snow and ice collecting,” she explains.
There are 150,000 catch basins across the city. Many are still covered over with snow.
Clearing them off is crucial, insists the City’s Lou Digironimo. “If you can clear a channel through the snow into the catch basin, that would really help us.”
There is some good news in all of this. Ryan Ness of the Toronto Conservation Authority believes local flooding will be minimal this season.
“The water in the snow is going to be released very slowly relative to a very rapid melt event where we get much warmer weather and maybe even some warm rain on top of the snow pack,” he explains.
