If your basement flooded in 2016 and 2017, the city of Windsor wants to hear from you.
It is close to completing its Sewer and Coastal Flood Protection Master Plan and the city has scheduled three Public Information Centres in February to get feedback.
The plan was created in response to the major flooding events in Windsor in 2016 and 2017 when thousands of basements were flooded.
The plan looks at which areas are vulnerable to flooding, reasons for the flooding and recommended short-term and long-term solutions.
The city placed computer monitors in strategic areas throughout the city to see what happens when it rains and where the bottlenecks are located.
Speaking on AM800's the Afternoon News, Windsor Engineer Mark Winterton says the city is at an important part in the plan to get feedback.
"What we have done is we have now identified some of the recommendations that are going to be going forward, some of them are very long-term and are going to cost a lot of money," he says. "Some of them are short-term and we've been starting to implement them already."
Winterton says long-term plans will cost millions.
"Things like storm water retention ponds, pump station upgrades, big trunk sewers, those are some of the bigger ticket longer term items that we can't snap our fingers and replace all of our sewers all at once," he says.
In 2017 alone, Windsor, Tecumseh and Lakeshore had a combined total of about 4,500 homes and businesses that reported flooding when 300 millimetres of rain fell in some locations.
Winterton says there are things the city can do now to reduce the risk of basement flooding.
"Some of the shorter-term things that we are going to be looking at, is mandatory down spout disconnections, basement foundation disconnections, things that keep the water from getting into the system," he says.
Winterton says there are also steps that the city can take, to mitigate flooding.
"We know that it is a matter of if not when. There is approximately 70% of the water that gets into the sanitary system which is typically where it backs up from into your basement, comes from private property," he adds.
The Public Information Centres take place on Tuesday, February 11, from 5pm-8pm at Roseland Golf and Curling Club.
Another session is planned for Wednesday, February 12th from 3pm-8pm at the WFCU Centre.
The third session is scheduled for Thursday, February 13th from 5pm-8pm at the Windsor International Aquatic and Training Centre.