🏠 NOTL's first Neighbourhood of the Year says a lot about how this town handles a hard summer

~ NOTL News Crew

Tuesday morning, Queen Street had two crews working the same block. One was hanging Peach Festival bunting off the lampposts, red and gold, ready for the tents and the pie contest. The other was Public Works, working the enhanced flood-pickup route, hauling waterlogged drywall and furniture off curbs from Sunday's storm. Neither crew seemed to notice the other. That's NOTL in one image this week: getting ready to celebrate the harvest while some of the farms that grow it are still standing in water.

Just five days after 146mm of rain drowned vineyards and lavender fields across rural NOTL on July 28, it happened again. A storm system dumped more than 110mm of rain across the town overnight Sunday, Aug 2. Zoom out to the region and it's worse: St. Catharines' own state of emergency was triggered by "a pair of intense storms," the same July 28 and Aug 2 dates NOTL got hit on, more than 140mm each time. But St. Catharines Mayor Mat Siscoe has also pointed to an earlier storm on July 21, telling reporters the city has now weathered "three very extraordinary rainfall events" totaling almost 400mm of rain combined, depending which part of the city you measure. St. Catharines and Lincoln both declared states of emergency this week, the kind of move that lets a municipality move faster on resources and lean harder on the province for help. Siscoe filmed himself standing in his own flooded basement Sunday night, calling it "a hurricane's worth of rain."

NOTL didn't declare its own emergency, and on Thursday the town's top bureaucrat pushed back hard on the idea that it should have. In an unusually direct statement, CAO Nick Ruller said "media coverage and online commentary" had misrepresented what an emergency declaration actually does, calling it false that a declaration would automatically unlock provincial or federal funding. Comparing NOTL to a neighbouring municipality's decision, he said, misses the point: "Declaring an emergency simply because another municipality has done so would be irresponsible and contrary to the evidence-based process expected of municipal leaders." The town says it's still weighing its own criteria under its Emergency Response Plan, and that a declaration remains on the table "without hesitation" if conditions warrant it. Whatever you make of the decision itself, that's a pointed statement for a CAO to put out two days after the fact.

The town's flooding alert is still sitting at "High" as of Tuesday. Lord Mayor Gary Zalepa, describing this week's damage, put it plainly: "water backing up in our vineyards and our orchards, our tender fruit, many of our farms," on top of houses taking on water through doors, windows and basements. In Old Town, a preliminary review of the King Street culvert, after Staff noticed significantly more standing water there than after last week's storm, found the culvert itself held up fine, a temporary obstruction at the inlet was slowing the flow, and it's since been removed. Crews spent the week on bypass pumping, debris clearing and infrastructure checks. Residents displaced or without working plumbing can use showers at Memorial Pool or the St. Davids Pool. Enhanced curbside pickup for flood-damaged household items runs through today, Friday, and the town also opened a temporary drop-off site at the Operations Yard on Four Mile Creek Road this week, open through Saturday, for anyone who'd rather haul it in themselves.

Here's the part worth sitting with. Premier Doug Ford toured flood-hit parts of the region this week and pledged Ontario Corps support for debris removal and supply delivery, and said residents "could" be eligible for the province's Disaster Recovery Assistance for Ontarians program, the fund that helps cover cleanup and repair costs where insurance doesn't. Nothing's been formally approved yet, that eligibility call still has to be made. NOTL is doing its part of that groundwork too, per this week's town update: tracking every storm-related cost and every resident report to strengthen the case for provincial help. None of that money exists yet. It's an application in progress, for a flood that's now happened twice.

And this weekend, Queen Street throws its more than 30-year-old Peach Festival anyway, tents, live music, a peach pie contest, baskets of fruit grown by the same tender fruit farms Zalepa was describing. That's not a criticism, festivals like this are exactly what a town does to keep its footing, and the growers need the business more than ever after a spring frost and now two floods. But it's worth noticing on your way down Queen Street this weekend: the peaches on the table came from ground that's flooded twice this summer. If you've got room in your bag, buy an extra basket.

If your property was affected and hasn't been reported yet, do it even if the water's gone, every report strengthens the town's case for provincial funding. Non-urgent concerns go through the online flooding service request, urgent ones to 905-682-2704.

Enhanced garbage collection for flood-damaged household items runs through today, Friday August 7, up to five bags or containers on your regular collection day. Tipping fees are waived at the Humberstone and Bridge Street depots until the same deadline. If you've got damaged drywall, flooring or furniture still sitting curbside, today's the day.

Premier Doug Ford toured flood-hit areas of the region this week and pledged Ontario Corps support for debris removal and supplies. Residents may be eligible for the province's Disaster Recovery Assistance for Ontarians program, which covers cleanup and repair costs insurance doesn't, but that eligibility hasn't been confirmed yet. Niagara West MPP Sam Oosterhoff is coordinating the province's response. NOTL's own damage reports feed directly into that process, report yours if you haven't.

Mavridis announced she's seeking re-election, citing the motions she's brought forward on updating decades-old town policy. If you're thinking about a run yourself, the clock's ticking either way, nominations close August 21, with election day set for October 26 and online voting opening October 5.

Niagara Region Public Health confirmed the season's first West Nile-positive mosquito pool from its weekly regional trapping program. No human cases locally yet. Usual advice applies: dump standing water around your property, and use repellent at dawn and dusk when mosquitoes are most active.

NOTL Local's Reader Favourites program is open, nearly 100 categories, one vote per business per device, voting closes August 31. Businesses don't need to be advertisers to be eligible, so if there's a local spot you love that never gets the shoutout, this is the moment.

NOTL Local's Writers' Circle column ran a new poem this week from the local writing group that's been meeting since 2013. Worth the two minutes if you want a break from storm updates.

The NOTL Museum's biannual polo fundraiser is back Saturday, September 12, noon to 4pm, two 4-chukker matches between Toronto Polo Club teams, plus a best hat contest, silent auction, pony rides and the Canadian Cowgirls Precision Drill Team at intermission. VIP and Rotary Lounge seats are already sold out, but general admission is $25 until August 20, then $30, free for anyone 18 and under. Every dollar goes to Museum operations.

The Town handed out its first Neighbourhood of the Year award this summer, and Chautauqua won it. Residents gathered at Chautauqua Park for cake and a celebration, and when people were asked why their pocket of NOTL took the inaugural title, the answer wasn't a park or an amenity or a heritage designation. It was each other, an active residents' association, neighbours who actually show up for each other, the kind of community glue that doesn't happen by accident in a neighbourhood built more than a century ago as a Methodist summer retreat and still carrying that close-knit, everybody-walks-everywhere feel.

It's a small thing in the scheme of a summer that's had two floods and a squash championship, but it's also exactly the kind of story worth pausing on: a town-run award that could have gone to whichever neighbourhood has the newest park went instead to the one residents said actually feels like a community. Worth asking what your own street is doing right, or could be doing better.

Chautauqua | Niagara-on-the-Lake

Last issue we asked where you'd put the next infrastructure dollar. This time it's more specific: if you've flooded twice now, what actually helped the second time that didn't the first?

Reply to this email. Best answers run next week.