Lessons learned from Grand River floods discussed Thursday in Woolwich

Officials from the Grand River Conservation Authority, Woolwich Township and Waterloo Regional Police met on Thursday to talk about flash flooding in the area last weekend and how municipal agencies can improve their response to severe weather events.

David Brenneman, chief administrative officer of Woolwich Township, said officials discussed what was done properly and what could have been improved in response to the Grand River watershed floods.

About 120 millimetres of rain fell over a four hour period in a wide section of the northern part of the Grand River watershed early last Friday.

As a result of the meeting, Woolwich Township staff are preparing a report on flood response that will be presented at the next council meeting on August 1, he said.

"We reviewed both the events from everybody's perspective, then we started, on a preliminary basis, developing lessons learned and potential next steps," Brenneman told CBC Kitchener-Waterloo on Thursday.

"Some further information naturally needs to be done in terms of follow up."

Public meeting possible

The GRCA may organize a public meeting on the issue that would likely be held before the council meeting to ensure township staff have more input from affected residents before the report is finished, he said. 

"We certainly have heard that some residents would have appreciated if there could have been earlier notification of flooding," he said.

"It would be good and important as well to have the public's feedback going into any final report to council."

Some West Montrose residents have said they were not warned about possible flooding until late Friday afternoon.

Earlier on Thursday, Dwight Boyd, GRCA director of engineering, told CBC News the storm that triggered the flooding was rare in its extent, time and volume.

"It was widespread. We had about a month and a half of rainfall in four hours over the northern third of our watershed," Boyd said.