2 years after historic flooding, city says Mississauga now better protected

Areas of Mississauga hit with severe flooding two years ago are better protected from such threats today, say city officials who’ll take that message — and other information — to residents on Wednesday night.

Record-setting rainfall in the summer of 2024 led to two “one-in-100-year” storms that unleashed their fury on unsuspecting communities in Mississauga and elsewhere in the Greater Toronto Area.

The City of Mississauga said last summer, one year after the first historic storm struck in July 2024, that it had “accelerated both planned and new stormwater infrastructure upgrades and assessments to better protect Mississauga neighbourhoods from severe flooding.”

Officials promised at the time that, moving forward, Canada’s seventh-largest city planned to put up a more effective defence against such damaging weather events as existing infrastructure would be strengthened, new practices introduced and additional staff brought on board.

Mississauga firefighters were out in water rescue boats on July 16, 2024 in this east Mississauga neighbourhood making sure nobody was stranded in cars that were overtaken by flood waters. (Photo: Mississauga Fire and Emergency Services)

Residents who want to learn more about the city’s efforts to protect against flooding, specifically as they relate to the Cooksville area of Mississauga, can take part in a virtual Flood Mitigation Townhall tonight (June 24) starting at 6:30 p.m.

The session will focus on work done and planned at Cooksville Creek. Those interested in participating are asked to register online.

2026 construction plans include flood mitigation projects

City officials also said this week that Mississauga’s 2026 construction season is now underway and among several dozen projects are efforts to protect against flooding.

Key flood mitigation projects this year include:

• Building a new pumping station on Osprey Boulevard in northwest Mississauga.
• Dredging and restoring ponds at Dixie and Tomken Transitway, Osprey Marsh, Silken Laumann and Britannia Road, and Central Parkway Station.
• Fixing erosion along Cooksville, Credit River, Etobicoke, Mimico and Sawmill creeks.
• Repairing the bridge on Burnhamthorpe Road West over Mullet Creek.

Historic storms dropped record-setting rainfall on city

Combined, the July 16, 2024 and Aug. 17-18, 2024 rainstorms dropped nearly 280 millimetres of rain on Mississauga, officials said at the time.

One year later, in July 2025, city officials noted the flooding in 2024 was “unprecedented and impacted many residents.”

As such, the city said that beyond its annual investment in stormwater management and flood mitigation, it would also look into additional actions “that can be taken to help mitigate similar flooding in the future.”

A city official also told INsauga.com at the time “climate change is a reality and it’s here to stay, so we are working to do what we can to be prepared. Since (summer 2024), city teams have advanced and accelerated a number of actions that are helping build greater resiliency into Mississauga’s stormwater system. And while we can never guarantee that floods won’t impact us again, we are doing what we can to try and mitigate the impacts of severe weather events like flooding.”

A car is surrounded by rising flood waters on Queen Frederica Drive in Mississauga’s east end on July 16, 2024. (Photo: Mississauga Fire and Emergency Services)

(Cover photo of Cooksville Creek: City of Mississauga/Ward 7 Coun. Dipika Damerla)