Anatomy of a (Toronto) Flood
On Tuesday July 16, 2024, Canada’s largest city was hit by a torrential downpour – more than 100 mm’s of rain fell on Toronto in a 2 hour period . The intense storm turned highways into rivers, snarled traffic, and knocked out power to many neighbourhoods.
As the Don River breached its banks, flooding the Don Valley Parkway and the surrounding high-density areas, the Don Valley Brickworks Park (home to the Evergreen Brickworks, site of Outward Bound Canada’s urban operations) faced an onslaught of water.
Modeling climate resilience and contingency planning to youth on course is an important feature of OBC programs. Here, we hear from our colleagues about that historic day and its aftermath.
Sean Hume, GTA Program Manager: We knew the rain was coming. OBC’s risk team and I had been monitoring the weather closely, since we had two courses going out that week. One course was due to head into the Rouge National Park for a paddle / hike / overnight. The other group was a climbing course. Both were full with 12 kids in each.
As the weather began showing “Record breaking rain”, we knew there’d be possible flooding in the Don Valley. We also knew that hiking in that amount of rain would be… less fun. We immediately began pivoting the Tuesday course program since the rain wasn’t likely to start until the afternoon.
For our climbing group, we switched their order to be gear-gathering in the AM and then offsite food shopping in the PM. For our Rouge overnight group, we moved forward with getting them into the Park. We are far less concerned about flooding there since the Rouge is naturalized and better able to deal with heavy rains
Rob Wallis, Principal, Education and Curriculum Manager: We usually hear in advance from the Evergreen team if there is a flood risk due to significant rainfall expected in the forecast. The site is prone to flooding and indeed was built for resilience in floodwaters, although this was a lot more water than these constructions were built to handle. I was working from home (in Toronto) and on the phone with my colleague Jane Isbister who was on site when I heard the sirens in the background, alerting everyone to evacuate.
Jane Isbister, Head of Eastern Canada: I was in Toronto for a couple of days, connecting with the Toronto team and Sean. As soon as I arrived it was obvious that the team’s were adjusting to possible flooding and moving off-site. The instructors were leading students to their transportation and Sean was preparing to bring extra shelters out to where the High School Credit course would be having lunch. The students were unaware of any urgency, a clear indication that the pivot was seamless. Knowing that the program site was off site, I settled into a meeting with Rob by phone. When the alarms went off there was a moment of waiting for exact instruction from the site landlords. Rob quickly told me not to wait and to get off site. He asked if I could move the truck to the far corner of the site.
Sean: I frequently check the Toronto Region Conservation Area website for updates on the river. That day, as the storm progressed, I could see the upriver and downriver numbers rising. This was concerning as it was indicating that the river was overflowing as well as backing up. I ensured at this point that all of our staff were aware of the flood risk, and safely away from our Brickworks site.
Jane: When I got down to the parking lot, the rain was falling so quickly and localized flooding was already accumulating. I knew I could only move one car successfully (my own, which I was already in) and that any second-guessing would mean both vehicles would be left behind. I drove through 8 inches of moving water to leave the site. If I’d waited another 5 minutes both cars would have been underwater. The flood waters came in really quickly. In the Don Valley, the water was 4 to 5 feet deep.
Sean: I was with our overnight group in the Rouge and they embraced the adventure. Ultimately, the group delayed the start and huddled in shelters they had built, watching the rains pour down. When the sun came out, they got back on track and carried on – they had a great afternoon and the day’s events were a teachable moment. For our climbing group that was food shopping when the rains came, this group wasn’t able to return to base, so parents were asked to pick them up at a subway location.
Rob: Police had roads closed so we actually hiked in the next day to assess damage. The Brickworks was a disaster zone. The whole area was covered in 4 inches of slime, with picnic tables piled up against walls. Pond weed was hanging off the bikes and cars that had been left there. One car had floated across the sidewalk and was only held back from going into the pond by a bush. In the Outward Bound space, it was really apparent that we were facing a huge loss of equipment; there would be a need for clean up and disinfecting; and that we wouldn’t be able to use the site for the foreseeable future. The fridge had been tipped over, and a fish was left on our doorstep as the waters receded.
Sean: It was a few more days until we were allowed back onto our property. We actually had to wait until city engineers had assessed our site to discern if the water had damaged the foundation. A 200 year old site, facing water problems – this is really challenging. (City officials ultimately deemed the building safe; other experts deemed our climbing tower safe to use as well).
Jane: Our truck was a total write off – the water came up to the dashboard. This made for a challenge for the Urban team, as its next course was canoe-based – and we didn’t have anything to haul canoes. Our Wilderness operation offered to help, and brought a truck down from Wilderness in Minden; the Urban team has also now secured a rental. Ultimately we are trying our best to pivot and provide the high quality programs that we are known for, and that parents are relying on us for – the show must go on.
Sean: We have now spent 2 weeks plus cleaning up. Silt, mud, sewage coated everything. We had to power wash the floor five times before we could even mop it. Thankfully we have had a ton of volunteers helping.
Andrew Young, Executive Director: We have had offers of donations of equipment and also financial donations from across Canada, which have really been appreciated. This has shown the Toronto team as well as across the country how tight-knit our community is. We really feel that our community is invested in seeing us get up and running again. Our Urban site is busiest at serving youth underserved by outdoor education, due to its accessible downtown location, so in terms of accomplishing our mission, it’s a significant place for us.
Sean: This week, Evergreen had a cleaning crew come through our space. The cleaners went above and beyond: they cleaned and sterilized not just the space, but all of the things that we had salvaged, which was a massive help. Evergreen staff and OBC staff have a really strong working relationship now. We are really in it together. All the staff are coming to the table and are supporting each other.
Jane: Our challenge now is to keep programs running when suddenly, we don’t have a site to run them from. We have some gear located at our temporary storage on the Danforth, but everything in our shipping container was destroyed. We aren’t yet at a point where we can comfortably operate a program on site. I’m just really proud of the OBC team, instructors, parents and youth. Everyone really showed their flexibility and adaptability in this situation, worked as a team, and came out stronger on the other side -this resilience is exactly what we teach on course.