Residents of remaining evacuated homes allowed back after flooding in Brampton

Brampton residents still out of their homes because of flooding will be allowed to return temporarily on Saturday to assess damage, officials say.

Brampton Fire Chief Bill Boyes said severe flooding forced the evacuation of about 100 homes in the city's Churchville neighbourhood on Thursday. The flooding occurred near Churchville Road and Steeles Avenue West. Residents had been allowed to return to all but six homes this week, he said.

Boyes said water from the Credit River is receding because crews are breaking up the ice with heavy machinery and pumping water out of the neighbourhood, but the flood is complex and the city is still dealing with it. 

"We have made progress," Boyes told reporters on Saturday. "As you can see around us, there are pumps activated. We've been able to reduce the water levels to a point now where we're able to get all of the remaining residents back into their homes."

City staff continue to keep a close eye on water levels, he added. The residents will be able to contact their insurance companies, but the power, water and gas in the homes have been shut off and there will still be water in the basements, he added. Inspections of the utilities will have to be done, he said.

"We're still concerned as the weather warms up in the coming days that there could be future flooding because there is still the ice jam that persists in the river right now. We're still not done with this ice jam," he said. 

"It is temporary on those six homes, but those people will be able to get back and assess the damage that unfortunately has happened in their homes."

On Thursday, officials said the flooding of the historic neighbourhood was caused by an ice jam at an "elbow" of the Credit River. The ice jam prompted water to spill into the nearby neighbourhood.

The Churchville area is lower lying than surrounding areas. Plus, heavy rain and warmer temperatures are believed to have contributed to the flooding.

Boyes said one excavator that was breaking up the ice ended up in the water on Friday night and is still there, but the operator was able to walk out of the water and was not injured. That excavator was able to break up some of the ice, he said. Operations, however, ended at 9 p.m. 

He said the weather is not co-operating with the operation because it's cold and has been snowing. The work is going to take time, he said.

"It is a challenge with Mother Nature," he said.

"Really, the goal is to reduce the water levels through these big pumps that you can see around in some of the lower lying areas to remove as much water as possible back into the river and then the next steps will be to work on the ice jam and try to hopefully remove that blockage."

Michael Parks, Brampton's director of road maintenance, operations and fleet, said crews are using pumps to reduce further flooding on the roads. Everything is frozen right now, he said.