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Scribe is a student-run publication based in the GTA that covers everything from social issues to culture and lifestyle. This spring, we tell stories from the mindset of a 20-something and the conversations shaping their world.
A storm is coming. As the clouds start pouring water, its intensity increases. It’s clear torrential rain is here to stay as the hours pass and the streets start looking like rivers, garbage begins to accumulate and people run to take cover. The city is flooded.
This story is Sean Maiato’s. In 2024, he lived in a basement unit of an apartment near the lakeshore, and while he wasn’t affected by flooding during the summer, he was in the spring. After getting home from work one evening, on the day of a big rainfall, he found an unpleasant surprise.
“I walked into my apartment and found it full; about an inch and a half of water.” he says.
Maiato’s belongings were damaged due to the flooding, forcing him and his roommate to move out and find a new home.
“I literally couldn't even live there because of what happened. [We] had to move out for probably two weeks, if not more,” he says.
Wettest year for the city
The year 2024 broke records all over the world in terms of weather. Here in Canada, and specifically in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA), record rainfalls were recorded during the summer and the whole year. In fact, according to Environment Canada, 2024 was the country's wettest summer and wettest year on record.
York University associate professor Laura Taylor, who specializes in urban planning, says that, while the city has flood mitigation systems and the work done by authorities has been sufficient, it may not be enough to avoid future extreme flooding events in the city due to climate change.
“It was an extremely high amount of rainfall in a short period of time and in a concentrated way,” Taylor says. “The amount of rain [falling] is more than ever.”
She adds that funds from the federal government will be needed in order to adapt the City of Toronto as much as possible to rising climate change in the coming years.
Ways for the City to adapt, she explains, include conservation of green spaces. And, in fact, she says the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority (TRCA) have done a good job in developing projects to reduce the flood risk after the deadly floods caused by Hurricane Hazel in 1954 that forced people to evacuate high-risk areas.
“The conservation authorities have done that for most places,” she says. “Watersheds are regional. Using watersheds to plan to avoid flooding is the way to go. Having conservation authorities that deal with even more than one watershed is a great idea.”
She says daylighting, which is using natural light by opening curtains, may be a good solution to flooding: “It's kind of this idea of uncovering varied urban rivers and streams and restoring them to more natural conditions. It's just to bring things back to the way that they used to be.”
According to The Weather Network, the city recorded its wettest day in history on Aug. 17 in 2024, with 128.3 mm of rainfall, surpassing the prior record on July 8, 2013, when the city recorded 126 mm of rain.
Summer flooding events in depth
Geoff Coulson is a warning preparedness meteorologist at Environment Canada. He says the city broke its daily and annual rainfall records, but also monthly ones during the past summer, with July registering 215.4 mm of rain and August registering 181.1 mm of rain compared to an average of 74 mm for July and 68.5 mm in August.
“We had a lot of thunderstorm activity, in particular in July and August, on those two specific events, but also off and on, on other days of the month,” he says.
“The forecasters in the weather centre did recognize that there could be significant thunderstorm activity in the area with a little bit of lead time before the events began." - GEOFF COULSON, warning preparedness meteorologist.
"But the true nature of both heavy precipitation events wasn't realized until they were well in advance or actually occurring. They are very difficult to forecast.”
Coulson says the three key ingredients for forming strong thunderstorms during the summer months are moisture at the surface; a lift mechanism that makes that moisture rise; and a level of instability to keep the moisture from rising into the atmosphere.
For the noted flooding events, training thunderstorms (when a series of storms move over the same area repeatedly) passed over the area, dropping significant rainfall. Coulson says that further research is needed in order to find out if both events were exacerbated by climate change.
Whatever the case, he offers a reminder: “Environment Canada endeavours to get out messaging to at least let people know there could be potential for severe storms. These events are highly localized. They can develop very quickly and move very quickly, and that's why it makes it very important during the summer months that people pay close attention to the weather information they receive.”
Be prepared
Flooding concerns not only appeared during the summer of 2024, but also during March of 2025 after record snowfall during the 2024-2025 winter involving both runoff and ice jams. Public Safety Canada spokesperson Tim Warmington gave advice on how to prepare in case of a flash flood emergency, including having an emergency kit, knowing details about where you live and your surroundings. In addition, he notes the basics: don’t cross flooded areas, as you can’t predict the depth of a flood.
“Listen to local media keeping you informed,” says Warmington. “Once flooding starts, it's really a matter of listening to the advice of local authorities, so listening to local radio. There is also public alerting. If there [are] public alerts, pay attention to any directions included.” When it comes to what you should never do? If your house is flooded, he says, do not touch the electrical box and let the fuse breaker do what it is meant to.
Maiato says his experience helped him learn how to mitigate basement flooding.
“Take all of your electronics and valuable items off of the floor, elevate them, remove any carpeting that would get soaked and damaged; anything that you just don't want to get water on,” he says. He adds that developing a keen awareness is essential to mitigate potential impact, especially if you live in flood-prone areas.
To put it simply, Maiato says, “Whatever you can control, you should.”
