Shock, grief and a city on the edge as St. Catharines, Ont., deals with massive flooding
The city of St. Catharines, Ontario, has declared a state of emergency following severe back-to-back flooding events. Residents and local officials, including the mayor, are grappling with significant property damage and the emotional toll of repeated infrastructure failures.
Why it matters
This event underscores the increasing vulnerability of urban infrastructure to extreme weather patterns and the resulting humanitarian impact on local communities.
Chrysler-Loney and her son grabbed the family dog, batteries, chargers and flashlights, intending to rush to the basement for shelter, when she looked out the bay window in their kitchen overlooking the towering Niagara Escarpment her home backs on to.
The window imploded on us. It was horrendous. It was just chaos. - Jennifer Chrysler-Loney, St. Catharines resident "The floor of the escarpment was flattening," she told CBC News. "It was like a tsunami coming down the escarpment. It was barrelling towards our house."
They desperately tried to hold back the floodwaters that filled the window well and poured into the house, dumping buckets of water into sinks.
But the force of the massive wall of water was too much.
"The window imploded on us," Chrysler-Loney said. "It was horrendous. It was just chaos.
"It was like Niagara Falls. There was no holding it back."
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