Latest news with #flood
Daily Mail
3 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Chaotic moment half-naked shoppers flee changing rooms after water pipe explodes
Dramatic footage has captured an underground pipe suddenly bursting inside a busy clothing store in Nanjing, China, sending water gushing through the premises. The fitting rooms were quickly flooded, forcing half-naked shoppers to flee in chaos as they tried to escape. Click above to watch the chaotic moment in full.
CBC
4 hours ago
- Climate
- CBC
Dealing with flood damage? These financial assistance programs could help
If your home was flooded, you may be eligible for certain municipal and provincial programs that can help you repair the damage.
CBC
4 hours ago
- Climate
- CBC
Floods in Montreal will happen again. Maybe soon. What can we do about it?
Eva Szymkowiak was among the Montrealers starting the week dealing with the aftermath of a storm that dumped more than 70 millimetres of rain over the city in just a few hours. For the second time in just under a year, the longtime resident of Montreal's Saint-Laurent borough, says her building's parking garage on Thimens Street was completely flooded. Last year, she says both their vehicles were ruined in a flood. But on Sunday, Szymkowiak says they saw the water accumulating from the storm and she luckily had time to move her car and warn others in the building. One neighbour described seeing the manhole covers on the street being blown off and the water making its way into the building through the indoor garage. "Somehow this street doesn't absorb [...] huge amounts of water," Szymkowiak said. Szymkowiak and her neighbour are hoping the city steps up to fix the problem. Faced with repeated flooding across multiple boroughs, officials are attempting to find long-term solutions — some even introducing bylaws designed to mitigate flood risk and exposure. 'Every neighbourhood, every street is different,' says mayor Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante visited those impacted by flooding in the city's Ahuntsic-Cartierville borough on Monday. "There isn't a unique solution for the entire territory," she said. "Every neighbourhood, every street is different." WATCH | The help you can get after your home is flooded: Dealing with flood damage? These financial assistance programs could help 6 minutes ago She pointed to various initiatives being carried out by the city to reduce the impact of flooding, including overhauling the sewer infrastructure in high-priority areas and building green infrastructure, such as sponge parks and retention basins. Maja Vodanovic, the executive committee member responsible for water, said several criteria help determine which areas are high priority, including the number of people affected in an area, whether it's in a low-lying area or prone to flooding. Overhauling sewage network not the solution, says expert Jean-Luc Martel, a professor in the construction and engineering department at the École de technologie supérieur in Montreal, said there is often a lot of emphasis placed on the need to redo the sewer network. But retrofitting the sewage network as a whole would be expensive, he says. In some cases, putting in bigger pipes would just displace the problem by moving the water downstream. "It's not a question of the size and the capacity of the sewer network. They're not designed to deal with those events," said Martel. "That's not [its] job." To mitigate flooding, boroughs have to look at what's happening at the surface, says Martel, and reduce the amount of runoff making its way into storm sewers to avoid overwhelming the network. Green infrastructure can help. He says homeowners can also do their part by having rain gardens and disconnecting gutters to allow the water to be absorbed by the lawn. Ultimately, though, Martel says the main issue are basements. "We need to really question ourselves as a society. Do we need basements?" said Martel. "After the sewer is full, the water stays on the surface and then it goes with gravity. It goes to the lowest point," he said. Mitigating flood risk and exposure With the intensity and frequency of extreme rain set to increase, the City of Montreal says it wants to make it easier for homeowners to make changes to create a more resilient home. That can include using waterproof materials like ceramic tiles in flood-prone basements, or installing watertight garage doors, says Maja Vodanovic, the executive committee member. "We want to make it more simpler for those kind of projects to go through. We are working on changing our regulations to streamline those projects," Vodanovic said. Regardless of the neighbourhood, or borough, the city of Montreal said its RénoPlex program, for buildings with one to five dwellings, provides financial assistance to homeowners for renovations or flood protection work on their property. The borough of Saint-Laurent has taken action and adopted a new bylaw last month which will allow homeowners to level up downward sloping garage entrances. It also outlines conditions for parking lot layouts and states that new driveways should be designed in a way to prevent rainwater from flowing onto private property. WATCH | Saint-Laurent's new bylaw could help lower flood risk for some homeowners: This new bylaw could help minimize flood damage for some Montreal homeowners 1 day ago After several floods in Quebec, the borough of Saint-Laurent has decided to allow property owners to level up their inclined driveways. It's also put in place a measure that prohibits basements to be used for certain purposes. But the borough isn't quite ready to remove basements from the equation. Citing the ongoing housing crisis, it said in a news release, the borough will continue to allow for dwellings in basements, even in new constructions, provided "flooding risks are reduced to a minimum." Borough Mayor Alan DeSousa, says basement usage for daycare centres and seniors' residences will be limited. "If kids are in the basement doing activities and water comes very quickly those kids are vulnerable," he said. Other boroughs have different rules. Rosemont–La Petite-Patrie, is taking a tougher stance and is not allowing the construction of 100 per cent basement dwellings anywhere on its territory, except through special exemptions for large-scale projects that benefit the community and meet criteria ensuring resiliency. Homeowners, however, will be allowed, under certain conditions, to expand the living area of their home by developing an underground living space. Basement use will continue to be allowed for things like garbage storage, laundry rooms, and parking areas.
RNZ News
5 hours ago
- Climate
- RNZ News
Government launches $500k support package for flood-hit farmers in Tasman
Minister Todd McClay on the Parkes Eighty Eight Valley Farm. Photo: Samantha Gee / RNZ The government has announced a half-million-dollar support package for [ flood-hit farmers, growers and foresters, with Tasman's mayor warning the total repair bill from the back-to-back floods is likely to exceed $100 million. Minister of Agriculture and Forestry Todd McClay visited forestry representatives, farmers and growers across the battered district on Tuesday, after announcing another $300,000 for the mayoral relief fund tagged to the rural sector, with it also matching $50,000 contributions from Horticulture New Zealand and Federated Farmers for the horticulture and pastoral sectors respectively. The funding comes as the district-wide clean up continues - alongside a warning more heavy rain is expected in the weeks ahead. McClay said about 200 landowners had come forward looking for support so far but the number of farms and orchards affected would be greater than that, as assessments by Ministry of Primary Industries staff continued. A bridge over the Quail Valley Stream that was overtopped in the June flood. Photo: Samantha Gee / RNZ He said there would be a range of effects, from areas where there was localised and moderate damage to other areas "where some farms won't be able to go back into production any time soon if at all". Eighty Eight Valley farmer Ian Parkes estimated the damage to his property alone would cost around $200,000. Both the Eighty Eight Valley stream and Quail Valley stream run through the Parkes' farm, with around 13 kilometres of land bordering both waterways. "Every flood gate has gone, we have 25 and they have all are certain areas of the farm there is no stock movement and the problem with no stock movement is we lose our feed, we can't control it." Around 60 tonnes of rock was put in parts of the river to protect farm sheds and a bridge over the Quail Valley stream, but at least half of it was washed away in the floods. During the first deluge, the rising water overtopped the bridge and left Parkes stuck on one side for several hours with his wife on the other, only able to cross once the waters had receded. Eighty Eight Valley farmer Ian Parkes. Photo: Samantha Gee / RNZ A fifth-generation farmer in the valley, Parkes said it was the worst flood he'd seen, causing more damage than the last big flood in 1983. When it began raining again last Friday, he called it a day much earlier than he usually would. "I just thought, bugger, I just had a shower, went to bed because I was buggered... you couldn't take any more." He's made the decision to slaughter and sell some stock, anticipating feed pressure in the coming months. "We've actually got stock going away today, trading stock, lambs that were bought from Southland and are going to Hawke's Bay this afternoon so they have had a good stopover, it was quite frustrating we weren't able to capitalise on the opportunity." Further down the valley, sheep and beef farmer Donald Ladley is also busy cleaning up after the back-to-back floods. "After the last rain we can't get tractors and vehicles around on hillsides, it's not safe to take even an ATV on the hillside where the sheep mobbed, we've probably lost around 10 hectares of ground." Eighty Eight Valley farmer Donald Ladley. Photo: Samantha Gee / RNZ In one block, silt had covered eight paddocks, with two left and Ladley said he could be faced with having to sell stock. It had taken two years to reinstate fences on another part of his property damaged by previous floods, with the river washing away the land several times. "A bulldozer just turned up at lunchtime to start working to try and push some gravel back to secure some banks so we might be able to put some fences back up, or it'll have to be temporary fences, but temporary fences and ewes and lambs aren't very good. "It makes you wonder what the summer's going to bring forth when we've had so much already rain." Federated Farmers national president Wayne Langford said the successive floods in the last three weeks caused significant damage, with farmers in a race against time to clean up before spring. "Farmers are used to dealing with weather events, as you can imagine, but this one was extraordinary in a number of cases of schools, extraordinary damage. We're a month away from the busiest time of year on farm with calving and lambing and we need to get these properties cleaned up as quick as we can and back into action." HortNZ chief executive Kate Scott said many growers had suffered extensive damage to their orchards, infrastructure and access. The Quail Valley River has scoured out land either side of it, taking some of the road with it. Photo: Samantha Gee / RNZ "Growers are resilient and used to challenges, but this recent weather has been particularly challenging due to the number of events in close proximity to each other." Tasman Mayor Tim King has warned more bad weather is on the cards and people should keep that in mind during the clean-up. "We're locked in a weather pattern that's been repeating for itself for the best part of two months. We've had two very significant events during that period and dodged one in the middle, I'm concerned given the comprised nature of our roading network and our rivers network, and the sodden nature of most of the region." MetService and NIWA confirmed the likelihood of more weather events through the end of July, into August with a large amount of rain. "We're very much hoping that they don't come to the same extent as the ones we've just been through." Tasman Mayor Tim King. Photo: Samantha Gee / RNZ He said the council was focused on repairing roads, access to properties and the river network, especially where stopbanks had been compromised, work which had been made more urgent ahead of heavy rain expected in the extended forecast through the end of July and into August. "But given how wet the region is, how compromised the river network is, even events that don't reach the level of rainfall we've received over the last two or three weeks have the potential to be quite impactful." In the meantime, Civil Defence are still visiting those in cut off areas as more than 40 local roads remain closed and there are around eight properties in the district without power. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
RNZ News
8 hours ago
- Climate
- RNZ News
Government announces $600k support for flood affected farmers
rural farming 39 minutes ago The Minister of Agriculture and Forestry has announced a half a million dollar support package from government and industry for flood-affected farmers, growers and foresters in the Tasman region. It comes as the district-wide clean up continues, with Mayor Tim King estimating the total repair bill has already exceeded $100 million, alongside a warning more heavy rain is expected in the coming months. Samantha Gee reports.
