TORONTO — St. Catharines and parts of North Niagara have declared a state of emergency after two severe storms in five days dumped roughly 140 millimetres of rain on the region, causing widespread flooding and infrastructure strain over the Civic Holiday long weekend.Local officials described the successive downpours as delivering “a hurricane’s worth of rain” twice within a short span, overwhelming storm systems, roads, and low-lying areas. The second storm struck amid an already saturated landscape, prompting the emergency declaration and formal requests for assistance from the Ontario government and Ottawa.The Town of Pelham was issued a tornado warning as severe weather tracked across the area..St. Catharines bore a significant share of the impact. On Monday, Mayor Mat Siscoe declared a State of Emergency for the city. “Many residents are reliving the devastating experience of flooding for the second time in less than a week, and Sunday’s storm extended those impacts to even more neighbourhoods across St. Catharines,” Siscoe said in a statement. The night before, Siscoe posted a video from his own flooded basement — the second time in five days — and urged the provincial and federal governments to provide disaster relief assistance. He noted the city had largely managed the response on its own so far.The Town of Lincoln also declared a state of emergency. Local officials report thousands of properties affected, shoreline erosion, closed trails and sports fields, and ongoing recovery work. The city’s emergency operations centre has remained active since the first storm.The emergency declaration allows the municipality to access additional resources and coordinate a faster response. It also raises questions about the readiness of municipal drainage and stormwater systems to handle intense summer rainfall events — costs that ultimately fall to local taxpayers and provincial support programs..As of Tuesday, cleanup and damage assessments were continuing. No widespread reports of fatalities linked to the flooding or the warned storm had emerged, though the successive weather events disrupted the long weekend for many residents and businesses in the region.Premier Doug Ford has indicated provincial help is coming, though Siscoe has stressed that a delay of a week or two is too long and immediate support is required. The Insurance Bureau of Canada has launched a Virtual Community Assistance Mobile Pavilion helpline to support residents affected by the recent Niagara Region flooding, urging those with damage to contact their insurers promptly and document losses thoroughly.Residents are being advised to avoid standing water, report damage through municipal channels, and monitor official updates as cleanup continues across the region.
