Flood Services Canada, the Greater Toronto Area’s leading 24-hour emergency flood, fire, and smoke damage restoration response service team, is responding to a study that exposed major deficits in flood preparedness across Canada.
The study, Preparedness of Fifteen Canadian Cities to Limit Flood Damage, was carried out by The Co-Operators insurance firm and looked at locations across Canada to grade how well-prepared they were for handling flood damage caused by extreme rainfall. Unfortunately, of the cities surveyed, only Ottawa got higher than a B+. (Source: Feltmate, B., Preparedness of Fifteen Canadian Cities to Limit Flood Damage, The Co-Operators web site, May 2015; http://www.cooperators.ca/en/~/media/Cooperators%20Media/Section%20Media/AboutUs/Sustainability/Flood%20Paper_Preparedness%20of%20Cities_FINAL_ENG_21May2015.pdf.)
“This study makes clear how far Canadian citizens still have to go,” says Chad Vanvari, owner of Flood Services Canada. “Thankfully, it also shows not only what people can do to improve, but also where to take notice.”
The “Areas of Outstanding Challenge” section of the report states that new homeowners need to be more proactive in getting what it describes as home adaptation audits. In other words, people don’t have flood risk assessments performed when they buy a house as often as they should.
While the study did acknowledge that new houses were properly outfitted with modern backwater valves, older homes were sorely lacking in retrofitting. A backwater valve is what stops water from coming up out of the pipes and flooding a basement and is often the only thing keeping out rainwater or sewage.
“Retrofitting now can save homeowners a good deal of grief later, but not many know they even need to make changes, Vanvari concludes. Flooding is the most common form of natural disaster in Canada and if homeowners don’t take the right steps to protect their homes, they’ll end up needing to call in an emergency remediation team to drain the water and help clean up.”
Flood Services Canada is made up of several quick-response teams who are leaders in flood remediation, mould removal, and other loss prevention techniques. Its specialties include fire, flood, and sewage backup remediation and cleanup.
