Tragedy strikes in Quebec as historic flooding causes chaos
Man, child swept away after SUV pulled into river
• Jacques Gagnon told his son Mike not to risk taking the gravel road alongside the raging Sainte-Anne River as he went to fetch two friends trapped in the woods by flood waters.
“He took a chance. He didn’t know the area that well,” an emotional Gagnon said in an interview Monday from Saint- Anne- des- Monts in Quebec’s Gaspé region. “In the spring, the river rises a lot, and the road gets eaten away.”
The Ford Edge SUV his son was driving with his girlfriend Kim and her two-yearold daughter, Daphnée, got stuck as it crossed a washedout stretch of the road shortly before 6 p.m. Sunday.
As the vehicle began to float, the couple scrambled to the roof with the little girl. Fed by runoff from the Chic-Choc Mountains and recent heavy rains, the river’s flow was strong enough to pull in the SUV.
“Unfortunately the vehicle was dragged into the river just beside it, and when the vehicle fell into the river, it tipped over, with the people on the roof,” said Sgt. Claude Doiron of the Sûreté du Québec.
The woman, in her 20s, clung to branches and managed to reach shore. Gagnon said he was told his son tried to pass the child to her but could not, and they were pulled downstream.
The mother ran to a house to call 911. She was treated and released from hospital.
Reports Monday night indicate the body of Gagnon, 37, has been recovered. A helicopter searched i nto Sunday night using infrared equipment and a boat was deployed. The search effort extends to where the river empties into the St. Lawrence River, about seven kilometres downstream.
On Monday afternoon, Jacques Gagnon held out no hope they could have survived, and he wondered if they would ever be found. “We don’t know if they are still in the river or if they have gone out to sea,” he said.
The incident was a tragic reminder of the danger posed by swollen rivers as Quebec experiences what the provincial government is calling historic flooding.
More than 1,500 soldiers hit the ground Monday to help Quebecers deal with flooding that has caused widespread damage and evacuations. Heavy rains and melting snowpack have so far flooded 2,426 residences in the province, forcing the evacuation of 1,520 people in almost 150 municipalities.
Public Security Minister Martin Coiteux said water levels across the province were expected to peak between Monday and Wednesday. “The water levels in the flooded areas should start going down Wednesday. It may start earlier in certain sectors. But these levels are very high … so patience is required,” Coiteux said. “But I know it’s hard.”
In Gatineau, Que., across the river from Ottawa, 380 residences were evacuated and some federal employees were advised not to go to work on Monday because of the flooding.
Some parts of eastern Ontario have also been hit hard, and Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale said the federal government was re- sponding to a request from the Ontario government for “additional flood mitigation resources.”
In Atlantic Canada, some parts of New Brunswick recorded more than 150 millimetres of rain after a nearly 36-hour, non-stop downpour. And while the deluge tapered off early Sunday, New Brunswick’s Saint John River had spilled its banks, forcing several road closures.
Meanwhile in British Columbia, two men remained missing as the province’s interior suffered heavy flooding.
About 30 police officers and firefighter were involved in the search for Gagnon and Daphnée Monday. Divers were also on the scene but could not enter the water because of low visibility.
“We have people watching at the mouth of the river, and along the shores on the seven-kilometre stretch,” Doiron said. In the town of 7,000 where ties are close, many volunteers have joined the effort, Sainte-Anne-des-Monts Mayor Simon Deschênes said.
“People are along the shores of the St. Lawrence River and sections of the Sainte- Anne River that are not too dangerous to see if they can spot anything,” he said. “In a town this size, almost everyone knows each other,” he said.
Gagnon described his son, who worked fishing for shrimp and groundfish, as having “a big heart.” Daphnée was not his daughter, but he had three children of his own aged between two and 15. “He loved his children,” he said.