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STORMWATER
Grey to Green
Mark Wessel
Canadian cities are embracing hybrid infrastructure to tackle the
stormwater challenge of climate change BY MARK DOUGLAS WESSEL
Taxi stuck downtown Calgary
during the 2013 昀氀ood.
Mark Douglas Wessel is an urban journalist
and communications consultant dedicated to
writing about and promoting initiatives that
make our cities more liveable.
WAT E R C A N A D A . N E T
XTREME WEATHER in Canada is no longer the
exception–it’s becoming the norm, and the numbers are there to prove it. Take for instance Calgary,
where in 2013 heavy rainfall on the melting Rockies snowpack caused rapid, intense flooding that
forced 110,000 residents to evacuate, left 34,000 homes
without electricity and caused $6 billion in damages.
Or Toronto, where that same year the city was hit with
a month’s worth of rainfall in just 90 minutes, leaving
300,000 residents without power and stranding thousands
of commuters. A “century storm” that cost the city over $1
billion, according to the Insurance Bureau of Canada.
And then just last year, Toronto had its wettest summer
on record, including one July downpour that left tens
of thousands in the dark while causing $940 million in
damage.
So much for the century storm analogy.
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