Heavy rain likely to cause epic flooding in soggy Central and Eastern Canada
Persistent, steady rains soaking swaths of Central and Eastern Canada that have already endured record precipitation levels threatened to trigger widespread flooding Friday and this weekend, putting residents and governments on high alert.
Environment Canada said a massive system was slowly drenching much of Ontario, Quebec and the Maritimes, triggering everything from contingency plans and flood warnings to states of emergency in dozens of municipalities.
In Montreal, Quebec Public Security Minister Martin Coiteux said Canadian Forces personnel were enlisted to help cope with the crisis in the province.
The province’s environment minister, David Heurtel, said the rain forecast is for historic levels.
“It goes beyond the worst scenarios that have occurred in the last 55 years,” he said.
It is not known how many soldiers will be involved or when they will arrive.
Senior climatologist David Phillips said the weather system, which stretches down as far as the southern United States, is stalled over the vast region due to high pressure systems elsewhere in the country.
The result, he said, is relentless rain falling on regions that have already endured double to triple the seasonal norms for rainfall over the past five weeks.
The problem is particularly acute in Quebec, where 132 communities had been affected by the floods as of Friday afternoon and about 700 people had been forced to abandon their homes.
For the residents of Île Mercier, a small island in the middle of the Rivière des Prairies off the northern end of Montreal, rising water levels meant they could no longer cross their only bridge by car.
Assurances of assistance came quickly from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau during a scheduled stop in Montreal: “We stand ready and willing to give whatever help the federal government can to help people through this situation. And we will, of course, be there as the cleanup continues after the waters recede.”
Residents of the Maritimes were warned to expect a long stretch of heavy rain, starting today.
In particular, southwestern New Brunswick was expected to see the worst of it, with up to 100 millimetres of rain in the forecast.
Western Nova Scotia and parts of Labrador can expect between 25 millimetres and 50 millimetres of rain over the weekend.
In Ontario, the eastern community of Clarence-Rockland declared a state of emergency in anticipation of heavy rainfalls expected to last through the weekend. Warnings from Environment Canada forecast between 50 and 90 millimetres of rain for some communities across the southern and eastern parts of the province.
Phillips said rain is expected to lead to flooding in Ottawa.
The same holds true for Toronto, which announced a contingency plan to close the heavily travelled Don Valley Parkway expressway if water levels in the adjacent Don River rise too high. The city announced the road would remain open through the Friday afternoon rush hour, but noted a closure might be necessary later on.
In the U.S., a man died after his vehicle was swept off a road near a flooded creek in Missouri, marking the 10th death blamed on flooding in the Midwest, authorities said Friday.
The Missouri State Highway Patrol said the 69-year-old man was trying to cross a flooded road across Dry Fork Creek when his car was swept away Thursday night. His body was recovered several hours later.
Heavy downpours that started last weekend have caused waterways to surge in Missouri, Arkansas, Illinois and other states. Six deaths are now blamed on flooding in Missouri, while four occurred in Arkansas.
In New York, record-breaking rains caused flooding in the city and flight delays in the region on Friday.
Two tracks at Penn Station were out of service because of flooding, and parts of West Side Highway, along the Hudson River, were closed in both directions.