More troops, dikes — and rain
What we’re seeing is a phenomenon associated with heavy rain and flooding and that’s landslides.
With rain in the forecast for the weekend, the Canadian military announced it will send more soldiers to Quebec to help deal with flooding.
The number of troops assisting across the province was expected to increase to 2,300, said Col. Eric Landry, who is overseeing the military’s flood relief efforts in the Outaouais region, in western Quebec.
Water levels are dropping, but Environment Minister David Heurtel warned the situation could deteriorate this weekend. Environment Canada is forecasting rain in the Montreal area beginning on Saturday.
Heurtel said the central Quebec region of Mauricie is expected to bear the brunt of the precipitation.
“We’re looking at considerable rainfall on the weekend,” Heurtel told a news conference Wednesday.
“Depending on the region, we’re talking about 20 to 40 millimetres, but in Mauricie the impact will be even greater, so we should expect another tough weekend there.”
Heurtel cited the combination of rain, melting snow in the St-Maurice River basin and rising tides.
Levels are expected to remain stable in flooded areas in the Greater Montreal area, where Heurtel credited the management of water flow from the Ottawa River and Great Lakes basins with preventing the situation from getting worse.
The weekend rain isn’t expected to cause a spike in Montreal-area water levels, Heurtel said.
“The flow will continue decreasing,” Heurtel said, but the rains will slow the decrease.
MANY LANDSLIDES
Earlier Wednesday, Quebec Public Security Minister Martin Coiteux said the damage from rivers swollen from Ottawa to the Gaspé continued to mount, with reports of landslides.
“What we’re seeing is a phenomenon associated with heavy rain and flooding and that’s landslides — and we have 126 of them reported thus far,” he said.
Landslides are the latest addition to a daily assessment of flood damage that as of 8 p.m. on Wednesday had seen 173 municipalities affected by flooding, 4,141 homes and businesses damaged by water, 3,033 people forced to leave their homes and 554 roads drenched across the province.
Coiteux warned Quebecers that even though it seemed the worst of the flooding may have passed, a return to one’s home “will not be happening tomorrow. It will take some time and those who are affected by it will be severely tested.”
That test will also take a psychological toll on some, Coiteux said, and while the 1,500 provincial government workers employed thus far in flood relief answer to the civil security section of Coiteux’s department, a growing number are also being drawn from the province’s health ministry to provide psychological aid.
Coiteux urged those living in flood zones to seek that help, and pledged that “if there’s a need to increase (the presence of counsellors on-site), we will.”
COMPENSATION PROGRAMS ARE OPEN
Finance Minister Carlos Leitão said Wednesday that flood compensation programs are open and money will be made available. He said victims should not rush to file for aid thinking the programs will close. They are standing programs and flood victims should keep their receipts, he said.
Leitão predicts the flood crisis will have an “insignificant” impact on the Quebec economy.
The Red Cross announced Wednesday that it has collected $1.7 million so far for flood relief in Quebec and has assisted 2,562 people.
FIREFIGHTERS, ARMY REINFORCE DIKES
In Montreal, on Day 4 of the state of emergency, firefighters and army personnel were hard at work to reinforce makeshift dikes, mostly with sandbags.
Firefighters and military personnel spent most of Tuesday night reinforcing a 1.2-kilometre wall built on Lalande Blvd. in Pierrefonds to hold back the Rivière des Prairies.
Montreal fire chief Bruno Lachance said the dikes are holding so far, but his crew will work to reinforce six other dikes in the area near Pierrefonds Blvd. and St-Jean Blvd., one of the hardest hit since flooding began a week ago. Six dikes in the de Gaulle St. and des Maçons St. sectors also will be worked on.