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“While the City must invest in meeting our emissions reduction goals, we must also invest in mitigating the impacts of climate change and making our city more resilient,” it said. 

If the motion is approved, staff would be asked to report back by the end of the year on programs that could provide homeowners with incentives to decrease impermeable surfaces on their properties in order to reduce storm runoff.

It also asks for information on the uptake of existing residential stormwater mitigation programs, and on any that the city previously offered but has discontinued. 

Chow told reporters at city hall Wednesday that there are simple steps Torontonians can take to reduce the risk of flooding for themselves and their neighbours, like diverting downspouts to flow into rain barrels or gardens, greening their front yard to absorb more water, and using interlocking bricks on paved surfaces. 

“We are looking at, can we help homeowners do that? Can we provide incentives? All of that is being considered right now,” Chow said. 

The motion doesn’t make specific mention of a stormwater charge, consultations on which Chow paused in April after they unexpectedly became the subject of international criticism.

The policy would impose higher bills on property owners with large paved surfaces, on the grounds the impermeable structures create runoff that puts a burden on sewer systems. 

Proponents of the idea, variations on which have been adopted in Hamilton, Mississauga and Brampton, say it provides an incentive to make cities more permeable and less vulnerable to flooding. Municipalities can use the proceeds to upgrade their stormwater infrastructure. 

But when º£½ÇÉçÇø¹ÙÍøannounced consultations on the proposal, critics, including Donald Trump Jr., labeled it a “rain tax.” Chow rejected that characterization when she sent the program back to the drawing board this spring, but said she worried the plan the city had put forward would unfairly impact homeowners. She suggested any stormwater charge should instead focus on commercial property.

She confirmed Wednesday the city is still exploring a potential stormwater charge, but provided no details. Her new motion could open the door for charges for non-residential owners, however. It asks the chief financial officer and other staff to “assess opportunities to mitigate and adapt stormwater runoff” from paved surfaces at large-scale industrial, commercial and institutional sites, as part of consultations on a separate commercial parking levy.

More than 97 millimetres of rain was reported at Pearson International Airport on Tuesday, and some parts of the city experienced precipitation consistent with a “100 year storm” — a weather event so intense it would have a one per cent chance of occurring in any given year. 

The downpour knocked out power to almost 170,000 residents, sent water flowing into Toronto’s main transit hub, spewed partially treated sewage into Lake Ontario and stranded drivers on flooded roadways.

At least a dozen people had to be rescued from their cars, and more than 700 residents called 311 to complain about inundated basements.

The Insurance Board of Canada estimated the resulting damage at more than $1 billion, most of which will be borne by government and homeowners. 

On Wednesday, Chow and city manager Paul Johnson faced questions about how prepared º£½ÇÉçÇø¹ÙÍøwas to handle the deluge.

Johnson said that while the city officials had braced for the storm, “the amount of rainfall in certain parts of the city far exceeded what we were anticipating.” Neighbourhoods in the west end and along the lake were particularly hard hit.

Some have questioned why the Don Valley Parkway wasn’t shut down sooner to prevent drivers getting caught in rising floodwater.

Johnson said those decisions are made by Toronto’s emergency management office, which has to strike a difficult balance between ensuring residents’ safety and not needlessly shutting down a major piece of infrastructure. 

“It will not be helpful for us to say every time there’s a thunderstorm coming through, we’re going to close the Don Valley Parkway,” he said. 

But he promised the city would review its handling of Tuesday’s storm, and pay particular attention to how it can use data to better calibrate its response to future extreme weather events.

With files from Mahdis Habibinia.