A Flood Tale of Two Cities: St. Catharines and London, ON

Abstract

The world's growing state of climate change has caused natural disasters to increase significantly. Flood disasters have risen in Ontario and require municipalities to implement flood-resilient measures to create a safer environment for their residents. This research follows a mixed methods approach to compare flood resiliency and determine if the Government of Ontario’s Five Flood Resilience Priorities are being implemented in St. Catharines and London. Four findings are highlighted: firstly, neither municipality satisfies the five flood resiliency priorities the provincial government set out. Secondly, St. Catharines is more vulnerable to flood disasters. Thirdly, London’s basement flooding program is executed exceptionally well compared to St. Catharine’s. The latter needs many improvements to create a more flood-resilient community. Lastly, homeowners in each municipality have varying perspectives on where responsibility for flooding lies. These findings show that, while both cities need to work towards improving their flood resiliency, St. Catharines needs additional improvements.