'What I Saw Was Almost Like a River' - Parents fear for their children's lives if another flood hits during school year

Parents in the Applewood Acres neighbourhood of Mississauga fear for their children’s lives if they send them to school next week. Two massive floods swept through Applewood Acres’ streets this summer, along with muddy sewage water. In the path of the floods was the local elementary school. Inside, water levels rose up to five-feet high and outside the parking lot filled with deep water that carried a current.

- By Ben Cohen

Parents in the Applewood Acres neighbourhood of Mississauga fear for their children’s lives if they send them to school next week.

Two massive floods swept through Applewood Acres’ streets this summer, along with muddy sewage water.

In the path of the floods was the local elementary school. Inside, water levels rose up to five-feet high and outside the parking lot filled with deep water that carried a current.

What would have happened if school was in session? Would it have been possible to safely evacuate students? What is being done to prevent the next flood?

These are the questions Sofia Bonilla, mother of two students at St. Edmund Catholic Elementary School, has repeatedly been asking city and school board officials as the start of the school year quickly approaches.

“I have a hard time imagining how they would evacuate the school,” she said. “What I saw was almost like a river. How is a teacher with 15, 20 kids, going to safely evacuate them if the building is flooded? Especially the youngest ones.”