Quebec Public Security Minister Francois Bonnardel says 35 municipalities have been impacted by the historic rainfall caused by the remnants of tropical storm Debby.
Three declared a state of emergency: Chelsea, Louiseville and La Macaza.
“I want to reassure the population,” he wrote on X. “The Transport Quebec and Hydro-Quebec teams are on the ground and working hard to restore everything quickly and safely for Quebecers. Public security is also in contact with the municipalities to support them.”
Bonnardel said there are 1,539 residences that were isolated and 100 roads were affected. In addition, 344 people were forced to leave their residences after evacuation orders.
He added a link to an Urgences Quebec post with tips on what to do if your home is flooded.
Owners should:
- Communicate with your municipality.
- Contact your home insurer.
- Inventory the damage.
- Check that the home is safe and undertake the required work.
Further tips are listed on the Urgences Quebec website.
In Montreal, blue-collar workers and firefighters have been on the job since Friday, cleaning up after the historic rainstorm.
On Saturday, Montreal officials said the situation was under control but that the city is not at 100 per cent yet.
“It was a pretty busy day for us yesterday,” said Montreal fire operations chief Martin Guilbault.
City crews were on the ground since the rain began with blue-collar workers helping to pump water out of buildings and people’s homes.
The Montreal fire department (SIM) said it received over 600 calls from Friday to Saturday.
Of the calls, 135 were for floods, including three boat rescue missions for people stuck in their cars on flooded highways.
“Mostly our firefighters went to homes to help people with floods,” said Guilbault. “We have pumps that we can take water from the basement and we assisted some people to make sure that everything is alright, everything is safe, [and that] there’s no electrical problem.”
City officials say there is an impact on municipal infrastructure, but isn’t sure of the extent right now.
They do know of one arena and two outdoor pools that are closed.
Executive committee member Marie-Andree Mauger said the city needs to adapt its infrastructure to better deal with climate events.
“We will modify our flex program to make sure that we support technically and financially the building owners so that they’re able to adapt their buildings and make them more resilient so that we prevent flooding in the basement,” she said. “We will also change our bylaws to make sure that the new buildings don’t face this same situation as old buildings or existing buildings.”
