Some communities in southern Ontario are being warned of potential flooding as warmer temperatures bring melting snow and ice after weeks of subzero temperatures. <\/p>\n
The Grand River Conservation Authority, which covers a large area including Kitchener, Waterloo, Guelph and Brantford, is under a flood warning until Thursday as officials say melting snow combined with a chance of rain could cause water levels to rise rapidly.<\/p>\n
The conservation authority also says ice weakening and breaking up in rivers could lead to ice jams, which block water flow and can cause localized flooding. <\/p>\n
The Halton Conservation Authority, which covers Oakville, Burlington and Milton, is warning that flooding can be expected in low-lying areas, natural floodplains and areas where there is poor drainage.<\/p>\n
Halton conservation officials say melting snow combined with rain, which is forecast in the region on Wednesday, has historically resulted in significant flooding and ice jams. <\/p>\n
Catfish Creek\u2028Conservation Authority, which covers a small area south of London, is also warning of increased water flow as temperatures rise, though flooding is not expected. <\/p>\n
All three conservation authorities are asking the public to exercise extreme caution around waterways, especially rivers and creeks where elevated water levels, fast-moving currents and slippery conditions combine to make these areas particularly dangerous. <\/p>\n
The safety advisories come after a record-breaking storm in late January blanketed southern Ontario in snow, much of which stuck around as the longest cold stretch in a decade kept the region in a deep freeze.<\/p>\n
Last year, a historically snowy February in Ontario and Quebec followed by a sudden rise in temperatures caused flooding in low-lying areas, including many basements.<\/p>\n
The Insurance Bureau of Canada said at the time the storm and subsequent flooding caused over $160 million in insured damage.<\/p>\n
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 16, 2026.<\/p>\n
Kathryn Mannie, The Canadian Press<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Some communities in southern Ontario are being warned of potential flooding as warmer temperatures bring melting snow and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":478696,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[49,48,83,44,11867,1133],"class_list":["post-478695","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-canada","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-disaster","tag-news","tag-ontario-quebec","tag-weather"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/478695","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=478695"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/478695\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/478696"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=478695"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=478695"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=478695"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}