Agenda

The City of Toronto experienced an extreme winter storm event in the evening of December 21, 2013 through December 22, 2013.  The storm produced freezing rain, ice pellets and wind resulting in wide-spread power outages due to downed power lines from fallen trees and tree limbs.

As a result of the winter storm event, over 300,000 Toronto Hydro customers were without power, which resulted in disruptions to City services.  In addition to significant damage to public and private property, thousands of Torontonians were displaced from their homes, or stayed in their homes in uncomfortable circumstances. At the same time, businesses across the City were affected by the hydro outage which impacted the economy of the City over and above direct financial impacts for the City and residents of Toronto.

The scope and magnitude of this extreme winter storm was unprecedented.  At the same time, the efforts of staff from City divisions, agencies and corporations in responding to the event were exceptional under difficult conditions.  Most especially, Toronto Hydro and Forestry crews worked around the clock to remove damaged trees, to repair electricity transmission equipment and to restore the transportation system.  With the assistance of the Canadian Red Cross, City staff quickly mobilized to provide reception centres for those Torontonians who were without power. Toronto Community Housing, the Community Care Access Centres, Toronto Police Service and the Ontario Provincial Police ensured residents of high rise buildings, including those particularly vulnerable, were contacted regularly to ensure their health and safety.

While power and City services have been fully restored, post recovery efforts by Toronto Hydro, Toronto Community Housing, agencies, many City divisions, including Forestry, Transportation & Solid Waste related to debris management, remain on-going.

The purpose of this report is to inform Council on the City's emergency response, the impact on City services, the initial cost estimates of the severe winter storm event and the requirements for the City to request assistance from the Province through the Ontario Disaster Relief Assistance Program (ODRAP) and/or any funding program.

Emergency Response

The initial recovery from the storm took the co-ordinated effort of the City, its Corporations and Agencies with the assistance of the Province and Hydro and Forestry crews from across the Province, Manitoba and Michigan.  The Emergency Operations Centre (EOC) co-ordinated the emergency response efforts for the City.  Daily activities throughout the storm event are outlined in Attachment 1, December 2013 Winter Storm – Emergency Operations Centre Event Summary.  Electricity was fully restored in the City as of January 1, 2014.

The City and its residents and businesses continue to deal with the aftermath of the event.  Efforts to remove storm debris, address damage to public and private property, the City's tree canopy and electrical system are on-going.  Many residents' vehicles and homes as well as businesses were damaged by the storm and repairs in some instances may take many months to complete.

Financial Issues

As of January 7, 2014, the City estimates that the costs of the December 21/22, 2013 winter storm event for City divisions, agencies and corporations is approximately $106 million, which includes incurred and estimated future 2014 expenses and lost revenue.  The City's ability to deal with these significant cost pressures is exacerbated by the financial pressures resulting from the July 8, 2013 storm event that, as reported to Council on November 13, 2013, is estimated to have cost the City $65.2 million.  Thus, the City has incurred an estimated $171 million of storm damage in 2013.

Given the magnitude of impact of the storm on the City of Toronto, it is recommended that Council request the Provincial and Federal governments to provide additional disaster assistance to the City of Toronto and Toronto Hydro through ODRAP and/or any current relevant programs.  Furthermore, it is recommended that the Provincial and Federal governments develop new programs for future disaster mitigation including urban flooding, winter storms and erosion control that reflect the reality of our changing climate.

In 1998, ODRAP funding of approximately $178 million (the significant portion reimbursed by the Federal Government) was provided to Eastern Ontario municipalities to address their sever winter storm, which is a similar situation to the December 21-22, 2013 winter storm in Southern Ontario.

The financial capacity of a municipality to respond, cope and fully recover from an emergency event is the key criteria used by the Province to determine ODRAP eligibility.  In its assessment, the Province looks at the size of the loss relative to the municipality's total property tax base.  Given most large municipalities have reserves and the capacity to raise additional funds through debt; they have had no success with recent ODRAP applications.    This is an overly simplistic way to assess the financial burden of disaster recovery costs to municipalities.   ODRAP was developed in the 1960s and has not adequately evolved to respond to the emerging critical weather related emergencies experienced today by large urban municipalities throughout the Province.

This report recommends that Council request that the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing declare the City of Toronto a "disaster area" as required for the purposes of ODRAP.

Strategic Actions 2013-2018

City Council endorsed 26 Strategic Actions in October 2013 for 2013-18 to advance Council's vision, mission and goals for Toronto as outlined in the Strategic Plan. The directions and recommendations in the report will advance a number of the approved strategic actions as follows:

• Support Environmental Sustainability (Action 6) by integrating environmental and energy policies and plans across City divisions and establishing interdivisional teams and by developing key partnerships at the provincial, regional and local level to leverage and advance shared environmental and energy objectives.
• Improve Emergency Response and Prevention (Action 12) by enhancing City and community collaboration and capacity to effectively respond to critical incidents.
• Ensure State of Good Repair for Infrastructure (Action 23) by leveraging funding from other governments for City State of Good repair.

This report also recommends that City staff be requested to report back to Council through the Executive Committee on January 22, 2014 on the impacts of the storm to the 2014 Operating and Capital budgets and options related to financing the December storm costs.

Finally, this report recommends that staff report to the Executive Committee in the second quarter of 2014 on the City's emergency response to the winter storm event including any recommended improvements for the management of future events, and that future reports related to climate change and weather related emergencies, that impact City Divisions, Agencies and Corporations, be directed to the Executive Committee.