Flood Services Canada, the Greater Toronto Area’s leading 24-hour emergency flood, fire, and smoke damage restoration response service team, is weighing in on Environment Canada issuing multiple extreme cold warnings for Southern Ontario over the past week.
The past weekend saw the coldest days of the winterforSouthern Ontario so far, including Sunday, where temperatures were reported at -40 degrees with the wind chill and hundreds of flights were cancelled. Environment Canada lifted its extreme cold weather warning earlier this week throughout most of the area, but there’s now a new warning for the City of Toronto and much of Southern Ontario. The temperature, including wind chill, is expected to be around -30 degrees. (Sources: Dehaas, J., “Extreme Cold Alerts on the Coldest Day of the Year,” CTV Newsweb site, February 15, 2015; http://toronto.ctvnews.ca/hundreds-of-flights-cancelled-as-extreme-cold-weather-warning-remains-in-effect-1.2237077; Shum, D., “Environment Canada ends extreme cold weather warning for Southern Ontario,” Global Newsweb site, February 16, 2015; http://globalnews.ca/news/1832491/extreme-cold-weather-in-toronto-persists-today/; “Public Weather Alerts for Ontario –south,” Government of Canada web site; http://weather.gc.ca/warnings/index_e.html?prov=son; last accessed February 18, 2015.)
“Toronto experienced massive problems over the weekend on top of the cancelled 220 flights,” says Chad Vanvari, Owner of Flood Services Canada. “For instance, water main breaks occurred throughout the city, including one at Dufferin and Castlefield and at the Mastercard Centre training facility used by the Toronto Maple Leafs.”
“When you have such issues with water mains and even a ferry getting stuck in ice, you know the temperatures aren’t necessarily safe for people to be outside for any extended period of time,” he adds. “Homeowners need to take extreme precautions in their own homes by ensuring not to leave any basement doors or windows open.”
“It’s always better to be proactive by knowing where the main shutoff valve isforthe home’s water,” Vanvari concludes. “In addition, it’s important to have the number of an emergency water damage restoration company on hand in case something does happen.”
Flood Services Canada specializes in flood damage restoration in instances such as a burst water main or pipe. More information on the emergency services the company provides can be found on our web site.
