The Canadian capital of Ottawa was bombarded with 167 millimetres of rain in five hours earlier this summer in what the city called a one-in-200-year event. Close to 5,800 basement-flooding reports followed, and the worst of it hit the city's west end, including the Crystal Beach neighbourhood.
Climate change is expected to make rainfall heavier. Short, intense downpours overwhelm drainage systems. Our research focuses on how rain gardens can help prevent flooding, and where cities should put them.
A rain garden, or bioretention cell, is a shallow sloped area filled with plants and soil. Water from a roof or road runs into it instead of a catch basin. Some soaks away, some drains out over a few hours and the rest reaches the sewer.
However, while rain gardens are useful, how and where they're planted can impact how beneficial they are. Before the July 1 storm in Ottawa, we had already spent three years building a computer model of Crystal Beach.
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