In the past five years, Toronto has suffered the calamitous deluge of two “100-year storms,” so-called rare events that flood basements, roads, streetcars and elevators.

Just last Tuesday, residents posted video and photos in real time, showing scenes of devastation — submerged cars, waterfalls cascading down the steps near Union Station and a streetcar abandoned by terrified riders after water rose above the seats.

Torontonians trapped on low-lying streets waded through water, sometimes chest high, after more than 70 millimetres of rain fell downtown between 9 and 11 p.m. In 2013, a similar 100-year storm caused chaos in pockets across the city.

Either Mother Nature’s math is very poor or we need a new name for these weather events. Storm of the century just doesn’t cut it anymore.

This week’s storm, revealed stunning stories of fear, heroics and some dangerously close calls. Two men in a west-Toronto office building were trapped inside an elevator, with rapidly-rising water leaving them just a foot of air to breathe before they were finally rescued by two Toronto police officers. How fortunate that no one across the city died that night.

While climatologists work on a better phrase to reflect the new frequency of these storms, there’s another, far more important, consideration raised by all that murky water on city streets.

It’s a problem that must, finally, get — and keep — the attention of Toronto’s political leaders.

Compared to the infrastructure of modern cities, that have separate sanitary and stormwater systems, Toronto’s underground system is ancient. As a result, it doesn’t have the space to store water, when severe and localized storms drop massive amounts of rain. Worse still, is the fact that Toronto’s two underground systems are linked so that water people wade through is actually mixed with sewage.

Obviously, Mayor John Tory cannot be blamed for the weather. But after the storm passed this week, he rightly faced tough questions from reporters who knew that a year earlier, Tory shelved a city staff report that suggested ways to modernize Toronto’s stormwater management.

If the city has anything in its control, it is the ability to update old infrastructure. Politicians campaigning for jobs on city council should acknowledge that climate change is creating severe storms and support ways to fund the necessary improvements.

The staff report from 2017 had recommended options for storm water fees, like those added to water bills by Mississauga. Those charges range from $50 to $170 per year, based on the size of a building’s roof and the potential for water runoff. The bigger the building, the higher the fee. As a result, some $30 million annually is added to a dedicated fund that pays for maintenance and upgrades for Mississauga’s stormwater system. That’s putting money to good use.

The plan had also examined the water runoff problems caused by hard surfaces, like buildings, parking lots, driveways and walkways. Without enough greenspace to absorb moisture, water has no where to go but into storm sewers or basements.

Long before the report was written, those types of fee suggestions had been mocked by Doug Ford, now Ontario’s premier. He was a Toronto councillor then and along with his sidekick, councillor Giorgio Mammoliti, called the charges a “roof tax,” and a “measure to get into people’s pockets.” Now, water is getting into people’s basements — a cost covered by the homeowners and insurance companies.

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The $1 billion cost of sewer backup claims from Toronto’s 2013 storm is now known as Canada’s most expensive insurance loss. Insurers have since warned that, if extreme storms continue, basements in some cities might be uninsurable.

Now that extreme weather can no longer be ignored, candidates running for political office should take a position: find ways to fund a modernized system or, be held accountable, after the next big storm.

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