There’s often a sense that politicians are somewhat removed from the everyday struggles of their constituents. But when thousands of homes in St. Catharines flooded following torrential rains, Mayor Mat Siscoe knew exactly what they were going through.Siscoe recorded himself pleading for disaster assistance for his residents while wading knee-deep through the brown, putrid waters that filled his own basement.St. Catharines, and the Town of Lincoln, have both declared states of emergency following a pair of intense storms that dropped more than 140mm of rain through the region on July 27, 28, and Aug. 2.In a video posted to social media, Siscoe called on the provincial and federal governments to help thousands of affected residents, many of them elderly and vulnerable.“Walking through my flooded basement for the second time this week. I, like you, am going through it again tonight and I just want to say that all of you who are dealing with the same thing, my heart goes out to you,” he said. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Mat Siscoe (@matsiscoe)“This message is for my federal and provincial colleagues. The City of St. Catharines for the second time in five days, is dealing with more than 100mm of rain … thousands of homes have flooded out … and thus far we have been dealing with it on our own.”“The city has been left to fend for itself,” he said.Ford vows assistanceSince then, Siscoe says he’s spoken directly with Ontario Premier Doug Ford, who has assured him that help is on the way.“I had a good conversation yesterday with Premier Ford and he pledged that the province was going to be on the ground…”“He (Ford) talked about Ontario Corps, which is a request we’ve had in since last Tuesday when the first flooding happened,” he added.Ontario Corps is a province-run volunteer program that provides assistance in emergency situations.In a social media post, Ford provided a list of ways that the province would help affected residents.In response to the recent flooding in the Niagara Region, the province is working closely with impacted municipalities to provide support and assist with flood recovery.I want to thank all of the first responders and staff at all levels of government who have been working… pic.twitter.com/69GIbyfWDZ— Doug Ford (@fordnation) August 3, 2026 Speaking to Breakfast Television on Tuesday morning, Siscoe said that promised help has yet to arrive, and stressed that the city is quickly burning through its finances and exhausting its resources while it waits.“It’s important to recognize this is actually a series of three torrential downpours,” he stressed. “More than a hurricane’s worth of rain in each one.”“We need the assistance, we have vulnerable people in our community who aren’t able to do the cleanup. I’ve had seniors, people with accessibility challenges, living with sewage in their basements for a week now and we are trying to deploy whatever resources the city has, but we need Ontario Corps.“The premier has said that help is coming, but we need it as soon as possible.”“We still don’t know if and when, and I’m saying ‘when’ because I’ve been assured that it’s going to happen.”Siscoe says with more and more instances of extreme weather making headlines, governments need to be better prepared. “Long term I think we have to re-think how we do disaster assistance because weather events like this are absolutely uncommon, unprecedented in St. Catharines, but we are seeing it more and more popping up in the country and I think we need a better response than a week later … finally starting to have the conversation about getting boots on the ground.”