City officials are urging the Catholic school board to create a formal evacuation plan for an elementary school located in a “flood-prone area” of Mississauga’s east end.
St. Edmund Catholic School, located on Melton Drive in The Queensway East/Dixie Road area, is situated in a part of Mississauga that experienced severe flooding brought about by record-setting rainfall in summer 2024 when two “one-in-100-year” storms unleashed their fury on the city.
As Mississauga and other parts of the Greater Toronto Area have already experienced heavy rains that have flooded some areas this spring — and a summer of wet weather lies ahead — the City of Mississauga is advising that the school quickly get an evacuation plan carved in stone.
Mississauga Ward 3 Coun. Chris Fonseca, in her role as chair of the city’s stormwater action committee, sent a letter last week to the Dufferin-Peel Catholic District School Board trustee who represents the school area in east Mississauga.
Fonseca said the city committee “has noted that a formal flood evacuation plan has not yet been established for St. Edmund Catholic School, which is in a flood-prone area within the Dixie/Dundas flood mitigation project area.”
Continuing, the letter reads the committee “wishes to bring to your attention the significant engagement that has already taken place between the city, conservation authority partners and the (school board) on this matter.
“We respectfully urge the board to take action in confirming its intended approach and timeline for developing and communicating a flood evacuation plan or protocol for St. Edmund Catholic School given the ongoing and real flood risk facing this community.”
Mississauga firefighters were out in water rescue boats on July 16, 2024 in this east Mississauga neighbourhood making sure nobody was stranded in cars that were overtaken by flood waters.
The city said delegations made last summer to both school boards from the cities of Mississauga and Brampton along with conservation authorities “outlined the respective roles of conservation authorities, municipalities, residents and school boards in flood risk management and presented an analysis of schools within (Peel) at potential risk of flooding.
“At that time, a joint request was made to both school boards to partner with conservation authorities and municipal staff on the development of flood risk reduction programming, including flood and emergency preparedness plans for high-risk schools, and flood awareness campaigns for staff and students.”
The city said it followed up those sessions with additional meetings with school boards last November that re-emphasized “the importance of developing flood evacuation plans for high-risk schools, identified potential areas for collaboration and shared public resources for flood hazard mapping and flood alert programs.”
A car is surrounded by rising flood waters on Queen Frederica Drive in Mississauga’s east end on July 16, 2024.
The Catholic school board said at the time it would “review the information internally and follow up if support was required,” Fonseca wrote in the letter, adding the committee “acknowledges that school boards are separate entities from the city and conservation authority partners, and that emergency planning for school properties is ultimately the board’s responsibility.
“However, the committee wishes to emphasize that City of Mississauga staff, together with (conservation authorities), remain available and willing” to offer any support needed to help complete a school evacuation plan.
In the aftermath of the historic 2024 summer storms, the city says it has “accelerated both planned and new stormwater infrastructure upgrades and assessments to better protect Mississauga neighbourhoods from severe flooding” in future.
The major rainstorms struck the area within several weeks of one another. Combined, the July 16, 2024 and Aug. 17-18, 2024 storms dropped nearly 280 millimetres of rain on Mississauga, officials said.
The Dixie Road/Dundas Street East area was hit especially hard by flooding in the wake of the 2024 storms.
(Two photos above: Mississauga Fire and Emergency Services X)
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