A man uses a paddle board to get around Glendale Ave. in east Windsor following widespread flooding, August 29, 2017. (Photo courtesy of Mike Hello)A man uses a paddle board to get around Glendale Ave. in east Windsor following widespread flooding, August 29, 2017. (Photo courtesy of Mike Hello)
Windsor

ERCA hires climate change specialist

The Essex Region Conservation Authority has hired a climate change specialist following severe storms over the past couple of years in Windsor-Essex.

Claire Sanders has worked for the authority for the past five years as the remedial action plan coordinator for the Detroit River.

Essex Region Conservation Authority Climate Change Specialist, Claire Sanders. (Photo courtesy of ERCA) Essex Region Conservation Authority Climate Change Specialist, Claire Sanders. (Photo courtesy of ERCA)

"Claire has clearly demonstrated her ability to coordinate very technical information and communicate it to varied audiences," said General Manager Richard Wyma.

ERCA identified climate change as one of its primary focuses in its 2016-2025 strategic plan, and decided to add the climate change specialist position in response to significant storms caused widespread flooding in both 2016 and 2017.

"Our communities have already been impacted by changing climate and extreme weather patterns," said Sanders. "Working together to build on the work the City of Windsor, county municipalities, and Pelee Island are doing, we can share information, prioritize, and coordinate action to adapt to these changing conditions."

Environment Canada Senior Climatologist David Phillips called 2016 one of the warmest and wettest years in Windsor-Essex. That was also the year the region saw snow in May and broke a record for rainfall in March.

Crews assess and clean up the damage left near the EC Row Expressway and Central Avenue in Windsor on August 25, 2016 after a tornado hit the area. (Photo by Ricardo Veneza) Crews assess and clean up the damage left near the EC Row Expressway and Central Avenue in Windsor on August 25, 2016 after a tornado hit the area. (Photo by Ricardo Veneza)

Two tornadoes hit the region in August of that year, and massive flooding just weeks later that caused $108-million in damage.

"In 50 years from now," Phillips told BlackburnNews.com referring to climate models, "when it chooses to rain, we'll get gushes of rain."

Less than a year later, Windsor-Essex was hit by another massive flood, this time the largest in the region's history. Damages from the storm in 2017 totalled $124 million.

An early priority for Sanders will be to set up a regional climate change workshop bringing together municipal, academic, and authority efforts to find gaps in current strategies and improve the region's resilience to extreme weather.

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