More flood protection money available for residents after historic Mississauga storms

Mississauga residents concerned about their homes being flooded now have access to additional financial relief beyond 2025 through a city rebate program that’s been extended indefinitely.

The Flood Resilience Rebate Program, one of two initiatives launched by the City of Mississauga in February to help residents recover from last summer’s devastating historic floods, initially mandated that residents who wanted to apply must do so by the end of this year.

However, city council recently voted to extend the rebate offer to those who can use it.

“The Dec. 31, 2025 deadline to apply has been removed. Property owners who choose to wait to restore their basement beyond this calendar year will still be eligible for the rebate,” Ward 10 Coun. Sue McFadden, who introduced the motion to extend the program, said to residents in her latest newsletter.

The Flood Resilience Rebate Program provides to residents rebates of 50 per cent of the invoiced cost (to a maximum of $3,000) associated with eligible measures taken to make improvements to their home in order to minimize flooding impact.

McFadden, who represents an area in the city’s northwest that was especially hard hit by the 2024 floods, said in presenting her case in her earlier notice of motion “the unpredictability and intensity of extreme weather events due to climate change poses a threat to public and private property in the future.”

The councillor further suggested that if the rebate program did become a fixture that the city set “an appropriate limit” on the number of annual applications in the interest of budget certainty from year to year.

Ward 10 Coun. Sue McFadden says it’s important that flood relief rebates be available for impacted residents beyond 2025.

The city also launched its Basement Flooding Prevention Rebate Program in February. It provides rebates up to $6,800 for eligible flood prevention improvements.

City officials announced plans for the rebates last September in response to the devastating floods that hit the city and much of the Greater Toronto Area last July and August.

They told residents they’d make two rebate programs available starting in February 2025 for eligible flood prevention measures, “making it easier for property owners to protect their properties from future flooding.”

Mississauga officials also made available starting this past December a one-time $1,000 flood relief grant for residents whose homes suffered significant water damage during last summer’s historic flooding.

The grant is available to Mississauga residential property owners and tenants — not businesses/corporations — who suffered basement flooding damage during severe rainstorms on July 16 and/or Aug. 17 and 18.

Grant applications will be accepted until May 31.

Rainfall exceeded 100-year storm level twice last summer

The grant and rebates are offered under a larger city plan approved last September that includes measures to provide both immediate relief and long-term solutions to help lessen the impact of devastating storms.

The city said earlier that during both major summer 2024 storms, “the rainfall exceeded the 100-year storm level, which historically has a very low chance (about one per cent) of happening in any given year.”

The Region of Peel is also offering money for those looking to protect their homes from flooding in the future.

The Region of Peel Sanitary Backwater Valve Rebate provides $1,500 for eligible homeowners to cover the cost of installing a sanitary backwater valve to reduce basement flooding due to sanitary backups of wastewater from the sanitary sewer.

(Photo: City of Mississauga)

Mississauga officials said earlier that “while the city’s current infrastructure helped reduce damage (during the summer 2024 floods), the increasing number and intensity of these storms are challenging these systems. The city is investing in upgrading its infrastructure, including the stormwater system, to protect property, ensure public safety and make Mississauga more resilient to climate change. But the city cannot do it alone; funding is needed from other levels of government.”

In the first of the two historic rainstorms that hit Mississauga and the Greater Toronto Area, an Environment and Climate Change Canada weather station at Toronto Pearson Airport in Mississauga recorded 122.9 mm of rain between late evening July 15 and early during the day on July 16.

It was the most rain received in any one area across southern Ontario during the storm.

(Cover photo: City of Mississauga)