B.C. disaster drives home need for flood-resistant infrastructure across Canada, climate experts say

More than two years after a failed dike led to flooding in his small Quebec community, Joel Godmer recalls the surreal sight of his home half-submerged in water. 

"I was shaking," he said in a recent interview. "I was in shock for sure."

Godmer's home in Sainte-Marthe-sur-le-Lac, Que., west of Montreal, was one of many damaged by flooding in April 2019.

It has since been repaired and the nearby dike rebuilt, one-and-a-half metres higher than before. But this month's flooding disaster in British Columbia brought back bad memories, he said.

"It's a big warning for everyone," Godmer said. 

Climate specialists say a major overhaul of infrastructure in communities across Canada is needed to make homes, buildings, roads and rail lines more resilient to extreme weather events, as climate change makes those events more likely.

"Infrastructure decisions in Canada are not accounting for a changing climate," said Ryan Ness, research director for adaptation at the Canadian Institute for Climate Choices. 

An engineer, Ness is lead author of a recent report that found if there are not significant investments now to make infrastructure more resilient, Canada could see $13 billion in flooding damage yearly by the end of the century.

Changes are necessary at the individual and government levels, Ness said, ranging from simple home retrofits ensuring functioning sump-pumps to regulations requiring disclosure of climate change risks for major projects.

Protecting the green space that acts as a natural defence against extreme weather is also crucial. 

Wetlands, for instance, help keep down temperatures during heat waves and help drain runoff during intense periods of rain, said Joanna Eyquem, managing director of climate resilient infrastructure for the Intact Centre on Climate Adaptation at the University of Waterloo.

Adapting to climate change needs to be seen as a long-term investment, she said.

"We need to learn to learn to live with it more effectively and better," she said. "So that people are not losing their lives and we don't have the same amount of damage."

There are examples across the country of communities taking steps to adapt to more extreme weather.