One year later, flood fears linger in Thunder Bay

Thunder Bay's epic flooding — which happened exactly one year ago today — has left some homeowners still worrying every time a rainstorm rolls into town.

After a deluge of rain, extensive flooding occurred, mostly on the south side of the city. Hundreds of homes, including Barbara Nyman's, had basements full of sewage.

• Listen: CBC talks to three people whose homes were affected by the flood

Although her house is slowly getting fixed, Nyman said she still worries about the weather.

"I'm so scared that I'm going to wake up one morning with a rainfall and I'm going to have to walk down and see the same thing in my basement," she said.

And it's not just homeowners who are still dealing with the effects of the flood a year ago.

• Listen: Lessons learned by first-responders

City manager Tim Commisso said some lessons have been learned, but the city still needs a plan to deal with stormwater — one that would include holding ponds or bigger storm sewers.

"And then the bottom line to that will be: it's going to cost more money," he said.

"There's no question. We're going to have to put similar to what we've been doing with roads, we're going to have to put more money over the next few years incrementally into storm water management."

• Listen: Charities help those in need

The learning will continue as a report from consultants Hatch Mott MacDonald on storm water and the sewage treatment plant will go to council in August.

Commisso said another takeaway for the city from the water disaster is the importance of new communication tools.

"Everybody's coming to grips with how you use social media to inform people," he said.

"I looked at the work that was done by the … volunteers at St. Peter's (church) and how they set up and they were so quick to respond."

Commisso said he believes social media is becoming the preferred way for many people to communicate in an emergency.