FQM issues recommendations to improve flood management

The Quebec Federation of Municipalities (FQM) has presented a series of 21 recommendations for improving the future management of flooding events during a review organized by the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Land Occupancy and Minister of Public Safety, Martin Coiteux, held Monday in Quebec City.

"In a context of climate change, the flooding episodes we experienced last spring will become much more common,” said FQM President Richard Lehoux. ”As local governments and first responders in the field, municipalities need to be able to protect goods and people and provide the necessary assistance to those affected. However, the lack of resources and the lack of coordination in the sharing of information often limits municipalities' ability to intervene."

An observation made by the FQM following the spring floods was that intervention with affected citizens would have been greatly improved if the government had involved the municipal level in decision-making from the outset and if the sharing of information had been more consistent.

"What we propose to the government is real interaction between our two levels,” said Federation vice-president and Memphremagog MRC prefect Jacques Demers. ”We need to use eachothers strengths to improve coordination when such events occur. Municipalities and MRCS must be part of the solution and the government must financially support the efforts of the latter.”

The issue of communication is vital as is access to current and complete data, the Federation says. ”As we saw this spring, flood mapping is not available for all municipalities. It is imperative that government assistance be provided to complete this mapping and update the flood hazard data. The FQM is very sensitive to this issue and is working with the Ouranos consortium to equip municipalities and support them in their adaptation initiatives to climate change,” a

For the Federation’s complete list of recommendations, see https://www.fqm.ca/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/fqm_journee-innondation2017_recommandations.pdf