Residents in St. Catharines, Ontario, are reeling from massive flooding caused by two storms in a week, with thousands of homes affected. The city has declared a state of emergency after experiencing significant damage, including homes being flooded three times in two weeks. Mayor Mat Siscoe's home was also flooded, and he described the situation as "a lot of panic, followed by stages of grief" for residents. According to the mayor, almost 400 millimetres of rain fell in St. Catharines over three storms, causing creeks to overflow and sewers to back up into residences.
Written by the local model on 2026-08-21,
using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the
same event (that is the story summary below).
Why this leaning score
The article's tone is generally sympathetic towards the residents affected by the flooding, using emotive language such as 'grief', 'shock', 'horrendous', and 'chaos' to describe their experiences. The language also frames the politicians' responses in a neutral manner, but Mayor Siscoe's comments are quoted at length, allowing his emotions and empathy to shine through.
Written under an earlier scoring contract, which gave a paragraph
rather than checkable quotes. Re-analysing this article replaces it.
Leaning score +0.35 for article 422 · logged 2026-08-05
Shock, grief and a city on the edge as St. Catharines, Ont., deals with massive flooding
Niagara Region city has declared state of emergency after 2nd storm within a week
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city → deal → week
Jennifer Chrysler-Loney, her husband and her 12-year-old son were dealing with water pouring into their south St. Catharines, Ont., home from a storm pounding the area when a tornado warning lit up their phones.
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warning → deal → phones
Chrysler-Loney and her son grabbed the family dog, batteries, chargers and flashlights, intending to rush to the basement for shelter, when she looked out the bay window in their kitchen overlooking the towering Niagara Escarpment her home backs on to.
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home → grab → Escarpment
The window imploded on us.
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window → implode → us
"The floor of the escarpment was flattening," she told CBC News.
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she → flatten → News
"It was like a tsunami coming down the escarpment.
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It → come → escarpment
It was barrelling towards our house."
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It → barrel → house
They desperately tried to hold back the floodwaters that filled the window well and poured into the house, dumping buckets of water into sinks.
But the force of the massive wall of water was too much.
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force → try → water
"The window imploded on us," Chrysler-Loney said.
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Loney → implode → us
"
Seeing the vast amounts of water pour in was surreal for the family.
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amounts → see → family
"It's like standing out in the street and watching our house burn," said Chrysler-Loney.
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Loney → stand → street
The shock is being felt across the city, which experienced massive flooding along with neighbouring Niagara-on-the-Lake from a July 28 storm.
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which → feel → storm
Then, St. Catharines was hit again, on the weekend, prompting a state of emergency.
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Catharines → hit → emergency
St. Catharines Mayor Mat Siscoe hasn't just watched the crisis unfold for others: his home was flooded in the first storm, and on Sunday night, it was again overwhelmed with water and sewage shooting up from a drain like a geyser.
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it → watch → geyser
"It's a lot of panic, followed by stages of grief," Siscoe told a Tuesday news conference about the first flooding.
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Siscoe → follow → flooding
On Sunday, foul sewer water once again bubbled up into his home, this time even worse.
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water → bubble → home
"You just feel defeated," he said.
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he → feel → ?
Siscoe, who declared a state of emergency Monday, said some residents have had their homes flooded three times in two weeks after storms on July 21, 27 and 28 dumped almost 400 millimetres of rain on St. Catharines.
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storms → declare → Catharines
I recognize the exhaustion and the uncertainty, the emotional toll that this is taking on folks in our community and their families."
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this → recognize → community
The heavy rain saturated the ground, creeks overflowed, catch basins swelled and sewers simply unable to push through water fast enough backed up into residences.
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sewers → saturate → residences
Siscoe said the flooding has hit thousands of homes.
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flooding → say → homes
"I've driven through entire neighbourhoods where every single house was dealing with it, and that was [before] Sunday night.
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that → drive → night
There are entire neighbourhoods where the driveways are filled with construction debris and furniture that's been destroyed.
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that → be → debris
Every worker in his office has had their homes flooded, and most of them will need basement tear-outs, said Siscoe.
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Siscoe → have → outs
Dave Upper, chief of the St. Catharines fire department, told reporters Tuesday that firefighters had to pull off a dramatic rescue on Sunday when several cars with people inside got stranded in deep, flooding water on Ontario Street in front of a park.
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cars → tell → park
Over the course of the two storms, firefighters were also swamped with calls from people facing problems such as their homes' electrical systems short-circuiting.
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systems → swamp → problems
"I've been here for over 30 years now and in my career, I've never seen this happen," Upper said.
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Upper → see → career
'We've had flooding we've never seen before in the city."
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we → have → city
Highrise tenants evacuated a 2nd time
Those displaced by the flooding include hundreds of people at a highrise on Geneva Street.
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Those → evacuate → Street
They were evacuated a week ago when the building's power and water were knocked out.
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power → evacuate → ?
Robert Burke said he and other tenants were finally let back into their homes on Friday night, but evacuated again on Sunday night.
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he → say → night
Upper said his department worked with the Red Cross and the City of Niagara Falls to get shelter for the Geneva Street building's tenants at the MacBain Community Centre in Niagara Falls.
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department → say → Falls
Mitch St. Hilaire said his mother's and stepdad's home in the Port Weller neighbourhood was flooded "catastrophically" on June 28 and again Sunday night.
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home → say → June
He sent CBC photos of the basement showing it with high levels of dark brown fluid.
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He → send → fluid
"To experience two catastrophic floods within five days is something none of us ever imagined possible," he said.
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he → experience → us
St. Hilaire said he was unable to help because he's in Tokyo.
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he → say → Tokyo
"[It ]makes this particularly anguishing for me as I watch helplessly."
Siscoe said many people might be questioning the city's infrastructure or wondering whether blockages or other problems caused the flooding.
uncertain
blockages → make → flooding
But he noted that the city has tripled its spending on wastewater infrastructure in recent years, and doubted if any city system in Canada could have handled that much rain.
uncertain
system → note → rain
Siscoe is calling on the Ontario and federal governments to provide St. Catharines with immediate assistance, and help communities pay for upgrading critical stormwater infrastructure to better prepare for such devastating storms.
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communities → call → storms
On Sunday night, Siscoe posted a video of his flooded basement on Facebook, saying "a hurricane's worth" of rain fell that night alone.
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worth → post → rain
…and 10 more, not listed.
