Colchester/Harrow experiences flash flood, with ERCA reporting over 60mm of rain

Photo courtesy of the County of Essex of the impact last Wednesday's rain event had on County Road 50.

by Sylene Argent, Local Journalism Initiative

The Harrow and Colchester area received a lot of rain in a short amount of time last Wednesday, and the Essex Region Conservation Authority (ERCA) issued a flood warning that noted the Town of Essex had been the most severely impacted by that rainfall.

  Rain gauges at the southern-end of the municipality recorded over 60mm of rainfall, though Essex councillors have heard it was up to seven or eight inches in some areas.

  The flood warning was put into effect Wednesday afternoon, until Thursday morning. The affected area included County Road 50, between County Road 41 and Wright Road. This section was closed overnight and into Thursday afternoon, due to significant roadway erosion from flooding in the area.  

The County of Essex’s Public Works staff were onsite Wednesday and Thursday repairing County Road 50, just west of Colchester, so it could be reopened. 

  Having received a lot of rain in a short amount of time, Essex Mayor Sherry Bondy connected with reps at the County of Essex and the Town of Essex to ensure municipal infrastructure – including pump stations – were functioning properly. She assured they were.

  “They just can’t keep up,” she explained. “This was a flash flood; a lot of rain in a short period of time. The ground is very hard, so it doesn’t go away right away.”

  She noted County and municipal staff were out checking drains, ensuring there were not any blockages that could further impact the system.

  This isn’t the first time Harrow has flooded. It did in August of 2023.

  Bondy noted at that time over seven-inches of rain accumulated in Harrow as a result of the August 24, 2023 storm, and a previous thunderstorm that rolled through the evening before.

  The initial storm in '23 resulted in power outages across the region, and many experiencing flooded basements. Some streets were closed, or residents were asked to avoid certain areas, due to standing water in some areas.

  “A lot of people are mad and angry. I get it,” Bondy said after the recent rain event.

  Unfortunately, there is not a lot the Town can do, she said. The Town does not have the resources. Raising taxes two or three percent can get people upset.

  The Town of Essex is currently receiving 2026 Budget feedback from residents, so if this is an area residents wish to see more money put into, she urged residents to come out to the open house planned for Thursday, October 2, from 4:30 to 6:30pm at the Harrow Arena. A similar event took place in Essex Centre the previous week. Feedback can also be submitted on the Town of Essex website until October 10.  

  Flooding is something that is always on Council and staff radar. The day prior to the flood, Bondy noted she, along with fellow Councillors and staff, met with ERCA’s reps to discuss flooding. That included looking to see how the River Canard could potentially get cleaned out and how they could go about getting more weather monitoring stations up.

  When ERCA’s CAO Tim Byrne presented the Conservation Authority’s 2025 Budget back in January, he spoke about how ERCA had been in discussion with the previous Administration with the Town of Essex regarding expansion to its flood forecasting system for the region.

There is a data system ERCA accesses to gain information about antecedent conditions regarding when and how much rain is falling throughout the region. He explained at the time, there are areas in Essex that have historic drainage and flooding problems, that being in the McGregor and Sucker Creek area.

The rainfall data is useful to ERCA for future flood forecasting purposes, and for Essex’s technical staff with respect to the type of storm systems being dealt with and planning for design capabilities in the future.

  Bondy noted there are not enough municipal dollars to make the municipal infrastructure flood-proof.

  She urged those with issues to report to the Town to use Essex’s online Report a Problem tool, available at www.essex.ca, or to call the Essex Municipal Building.

  To learn more about the available basement flooding subsidies available through the Town of Essex, log onto www.essex.ca/subsidy

  Moving ahead, at the October 6 Council meeting, Bondy will bring forward two Notices of Motion for Council to consider.

  The first seeks to direct Administration to provide a report detailing the state of Municipal Drains bounded by County Road 50, from Erie Road to County Road 41, in the Town of Essex and that such report include the number of drains, capacity of drains, and whether or not Council has any ability to implement drainage works without a petition from residents.

  She noted rural areas fall under the Drainage Act, meaning it is a user-pay system. There may be areas where residents might not want to pay for improvements, but may need to buy into the system to increase flooding prevention.

  The second will ask to have Harrow looked at as an urban centre, similar to what was done previously for Essex Centre, to see if stormwater capacity needs to be increased by acquisition of land and potential for stormwater retention ponds.

  An engineer needs to look at Harrow and get a plan together, she said.

Bondy explained new subdivisions have stormwater retention ponds, but she wants to look at the older areas of Harrow to determine if stormwater retention ponds are needed.

  “What I am hearing from members of the public is that they want us to do more,” Bondy said.   

  Essex MPP Anthony Leardi weighed-in on the matter, noting this recent flooding isn’t new, as it happened in 2023. It happened before that and it will happen again, “because the municipality of Essex has failed to take any steps to address this problem,” he said.

  Over the past seven-years, the Town of Essex has received over $8.7M in infrastructure money from the provincial government through the Ontario Community Infrastructure Fund (OCIF), which Leardi said the municipality could have used for any infrastructure.

  “They could have used it to fix this problem,” he noted.   

  The province also has the Housing-Enabling Water Systems Fund (HEWSF), which has a main purpose to develop water systems, so more housing can be built. Recently, Leardi was able to present Amherstburg with $9.3M, LaSalle with $22M, and Kingsville with $9M, with an additional $7.4M earlier this year through the Housing-Enabling Core Servicing Stream to build this West Side Collector Road.

  Essex didn’t apply for the second round of applications for the HEWSF. It did apply in the first round for the Colchester Water Pollution Control Plant project, but was not approved for funding.

  It was noted when Essex first applied for the HEWSF that there could be a large dollar impact to the municipality, if the grant was unsuccessful. That is because the design needs to be completed. However, the design would have a shelf-life for future consideration and get the project shovel-ready for future grant opportunities. Conversely, getting this grant could also bring in tens of millions of dollars towards the project.

  At that meeting, Council also appointed Stantec Consulting Ltd. to provide engineering design services in the amount of $2,143,065.60 to complete preliminary and detailed design of the Colchester Water Pollution Control.

  The total cost estimate for the phase one upgrades for the Colchester Water Pollution Control Plant was estimated at $42.8M.

  At the October 7, 2024 meeting, Council voted to not reapply for the HEWSF. The plan was still being developed at the time.

  “And now they are flooding,” Leardi said, adding he would like Essex to focus on infrastructure the way the Ontario government is focusing on infrastructure and is providing millions of dollars to support that.

  “Fix your infrastructure, that is what this money is for,” he said.

  His office has received emails from constituents about the recent flooding, and Leardi said he told them the same thing.  

  Bondy noted the OCIF funding the Town of Essex receives year-to-year, is based on a formula, and something it depends on. She said Essex is a challenging municipality in that it is large and has a lot of roads to maintain. Typically, the OCIF funding goes to sustain capital road projects.

  “If we were to pull out money for flood mitigation, that would mean we do less roads,” Bondy explained.  

  In terms of the HEWSF funding, she said that will be a big decision for Council. Municipalities have to put in their own funding as well. Council would have to decide if it would want to take on a big project like the Colchester Sewage Plant, because it would have to take on debt. It would have to look at how many homes it would gain in Colchester with this, or if the money is better spent somewhere else.

  The HEWSF also needs to have a shovel-ready project to apply.

  Bondy would also like to work with the County in finding out its role with drainage, as well.

  Ward 3 Councillor Jason Matyi heard there were areas that received between seven and eight inches of rain last Wednesday. He noted weather stations are used to determine that. Essex is asking for more weather stations to be installed in the south-end of the municipality to get more accurate water fall summaries, and to help determine where drains were overwhelmed.

  The big concern, Matyi and fellow Colchester rep Brad Allard heard, were how the water was cresting portions of County Road 50, causing the road closures.

  The area is largely agricultural, with the water running down to the lake, Matyi described. As the water gets to the County Road, it gets forced into the drainage structures. At the areas where the drains get overwhelmed, it leads to erosion.

  With most of the issues reported to the Town being land and roads flooding, Matyi said it shows the drainage system was working as it was designed. The question now is if residents are happy with the way it was working or if the Town needs to increase the level of service with them.