This time last year, extreme flooding in Brantford shut down roads and forced thousands of people to evacuate.
On Thursday, the Grand River Conservation Authority met with emergency services to talk about being prepared if it happens again.
“How there can be additional space or capacity needed, what’s called relief, so that ice and water can move through that tight reach more easily and avoid the potential for a reoccurrence of what we saw last year,” says Dwight Boyd with the GRCA.
Officials say there is a high risk for ice jam flooding again this year due to fluctuating temperatures. There is also a high risk for flooding along Lake Erie’s shoreline, and a moderate-to-high risk for snow melt and rainstorm flooding.
Residents are encouraged to have a 72-hour emergency plan ready for when flood warnings are issued.
The flood outlook meeting offers community partners a chance to understand their responsibilities when a flood warning is in place. The GRCA has worked closely with the municipality in search of what caused the severe ice jam in 2018.
The GRCA and the municipality are using geographic information systems are being used for the first time this year to help digitize flood plain mapping.
It’s expected that this will result in better emergency response plans moving forward.
