Another flood-hit Ontario community declares state of emergency after heavy rain

Another flood-hit community in southwestern Ontario has declared a state of emergency as heavy rains move across the region. 

The township of Southwold, just south of London, says it made the declaration Friday morning, becoming at least the third Ontario municipality to do so in the past week. 

Southwold officials said there are multiple road closures. 

Environment Canada has issued a special weather statement across much of southwestern Ontario.

It said some areas have already been hit with 50 to 100 millimetres of rain by Friday afternoon and could see more before scattered showers and thunderstorms pass later in the evening. 

St. Catharines and the nearby town of Lincoln were both still under states of emergency after back-to-back storms last week inundated parts of the Niagara Region with about a quarter of the area’s typical annual rainfall. 

The cleanup continued Friday in Niagara Falls, Ont., which was also hit by heavy rain last week.

“The biggest evidence of what happened is you see a lot of people leaving things from their basements out at the front of the front curb,” Mayor Jim Diodati said.

Residents have been traumatized by the past week’s events and are aware of the “acute possibility” of more flooding from the upcoming rain, Diodati said.

“When it started raining today, everybody got uptight because they’re like, ‘Not again.’” 

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 7, 2026.