Toronto's flood-damaged items create heavy work for city

An abundance of flood-damaged household items from last week's record rainfall has created a large-scale clean-up effort for city and privately-owned crews.

The city's director of collections Rob Orpin said workers "barely put a dent in things" after collecting approximately 400 tonnes of material waste off the curb over the weekend. On a typical day they will collect closer to 100 tonnes.

"We are shocked by the amount of material that people have put out," Orpin said.

Clean-up crews have been called in from across the province, and as far away as Quebec and New Brunswick.

One company estimates cataloguing all the items for insurance claims could take up to three or four days.

The CBC's Steven D'Souza reports from one of the hardest hits neighbourhoods in west Toronto. Click on the video image above to watch his story.