Thousands engaged in battle with floodwaters
Quebec hardest hit by flooding, but Ontario, Atlantic Canada and parts of B.C. also affected
Thousands of Canadians across the country spent the weekend in a desperate struggle with rising floodwaters caused by unusually persistent rainfall.
Quebec has been hardest hit, with nearly 1,900 flooded homes in roughly 130 municipalities, from the Ontario border in the west to the Gaspe peninsula.
National Defence said in a release that approximately 800 additional troops were deployed in Quebec on Sunday, joining more than 400 Canadian Armed Forces members already assisting with the flood effort in the province.
The troops, along with aircraft and 12 boats from the Naval Reserve, were being positioned to aid communities across Quebec, several of which are under a state of emergency, it said in a release.
On Sunday, Montreal became the latest Quebec city to declare a state of emergency after three dikes gave way in the Pierrefonds-Roxboro borough, in the north end of the city by the Rivieres des Prairies.
Canadian Forces Capt. Frederick Lavoie was overseeing 35 army reservists bagging sand and helping to save houses along the river in Pierrefonds.
His men, all from the Montreal area, took over from a regular forces unit Sunday morning and “couldn’t wait to get their hands dirty and feet wet,” Lavoie said.
There should be up to 100 reservists helping in the borough by Tuesday, he added.
Montreal Mayor Denis Coderre said about 220 people in the city had been evacuated from their homes.
He said officials were prepared to remove people if they refused to comply with evacuation orders.
Coderre said officials are warning water levels could rise another 20 centimetres in the next 24 hours.
West of Montreal, the small town of Rigaud issued a mandatory evacuation order Sunday and a state of emergency has been in place for several days.
Mayor Hans Gruenwald Jr. told reporters at a town hall that firefighters will be going door to door to make sure people in the affected areas leave their homes.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau visited a floodaffected area in Terrasse-Vaudreuil, just west of Montreal.
Lt.-Col. Pascal Larose said about 400 members of the Canadian Forces were deployed between Gatineau and Rigaud, and another 550 in the Montreal area including its northern suburb of Laval.
About 75 members were deployed around TroisRivieres, located about halfway up the St. Lawrence River between Montreal and Quebec City, and roughly 200 members were aiding relief efforts south of Montreal.
In Gatineau, Que., near the border with Ontario, 380 residences were evacuated and officials wanted to evacuate another 900 homes Sunday.
Some federal employees were being advised not to go to work today because of the flooding.
Officials said federal buildings in Gatineau would be closed, and employees who normally get to their offices via the interprovincial bridges in the National Capital Region were being asked not to go to their offices.
Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale said no other province had so far requested military help, but forces personnel, including reserves, are on standby across the country.
The situation in Ontario seems to be “generally stabilizing,” although there are many unstable local circumstances, he said.
Goodale said the Ontario government had requested “additional flood mitigation resources” to help in its battle against the flooding and that support would be provided.
“This Ontario request does not involve the deployment of Canadian Armed Forces personnel,” he said.
Rob Kuhn, an Environment Canada meteorologist based in Toronto, said Sunday that eastern Ontario saw the most rainfall in the province. He added that upward of 80 millimetres of rain fell between Friday and Sunday morning in the Trenton area.
In Atlantic Canada, some parts of New Brunswick recorded more than 150 millimetres of rain after a nearly 36-hour non-stop downpour.
A weather station northeast of Saint John, N.B., measured 155 millimetres of precipitation from late Friday to early Sunday.
While the deluge tapered off in the province early Sunday, New Brunswick’s St. John River has spilled its banks, prompting several road closures.
“It’s above flood stage in several areas from Fredericton down south,” said Robert Duguay, a spokesman with the province’s emergency measures organization. “Water levels are going to stay high probably for the rest of the week.”
In British Columbia, searchers looked for two men missing as flooding continued to plague the province’s Interior, and the possibility of further rain and snowmelt had residents bracing for more.
RCMP spokesman Dan Moskaluk said on Sunday that Cassidy Clayton, a fire chief in Cache Creek, remains unaccounted for two days after he was believed to have been swept away by a swollen waterway west of Kamloops.
The 59-year-old man was last known to be checking water levels in Cache Creek early Friday and his vehicle was later found at the site.
The Mounties say Clayton is presumed dead and the search has turned into a recovery effort.
A statement from the Columbia Shuswap Regional District says an urban search and rescue team from Vancouver continues to look for a 76-year-old man whose home north of Salmon Arm was “completely enveloped” in a mudslide Saturday.
The worst may be over as water levels recede through western parts of affected areas, including the south and central Okanagan and the Kootenay region, B.C.’s River Forecast Centre said.
Waters appeared to have peaked and remain high in Salmon Creek, Shuswap, Boundary and Southeast B.C., the centre added.