Residents and City of Toronto staff worked to refill sandbags and pump out water from Toronto Islands, a day after a storm pushed rising lakewater over temporary barriers causing significant flooding to area homes.“People were panicking last night,” Tony Farebrother, co-chair of the Toronto Island Community Association, said Friday morning at a news conference on Ward’s Island. Farebrother said Island residents, many of whom are elderly, have been worried that the Island could see a repeat of 2017, when water levels reached record highs and Island parks were closed for months. On Thursday night, sloshing water in the harbour knocked a hole in the sandbag wall on the north shore of Ward’s Island, letting the lake pour in and leaving some homes surrounded by water, city spokesperson Brad Ross said.No lives were in danger and there was no need to evacuate, Ross said Thursday, adding the pumping effort will take 48 to 72 hours. By Friday morning, the majority of the streets on Ward’s Island were still flooded, and city vehicles could be seen crossing ponds of water. “We used to have flooding every 25 years now it’s happening every two years,” said longtime resident Peter Chisholm, who said the water rose up to his front deck about three feet off the ground. “It’s scary to be honest. Look how vulnerable we are with all this water just in front of us,” he said.While touring the island for about an hour Friday afternoon, Mayor John Tory noted that some of the impact was “very much related to climate change” — a worldwide problem that Toronto can’t solve by itself. He said he was encouraged by the number of houses not affected, but pointed to the risk of more rain in the forecast. “The weather that’s anticipated over the weekend is a concern,” but the city anticipates the Islands will remain safe, he said.Looking ahead, city staff will need to sit down with reside ...
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