Resident captures bird’s-eye view of Rigaud flood
As soon as Nabil Sorial heard that Rigaud had declared a state of emergency over rising water levels two weeks ago, he knew he wanted to capture the extent of the flooding from above.
He loaded his drone in his car and made the 10-minute drive from his home in St-Lazare. By the time he got to the exit for Rigaud, he could already see the water rising in the distance.
“I knew then I had to fly my drone above and see what it looked like,” Sorial, 42, said this week.
He wanted to help people who don’t live in Rigaud understand how serious the situation was.
With his drone connected to his cellphone, he could see the footage its camera was capturing — from about 200 feet above the town’s flooded area — in real time while navigating it.
“I saw the hundreds of homes that were under water and thought, ‘Oh my God, people need to see this,’ ” he said. “In an instant, by looking at the footage, you could see what’s happening in this community.”
Sorial posted the videos online to different Rigaud community Facebook groups.
“People were shocked and saddened by it and wanted to know more,” he said.
When the town of Rigaud announced it was expecting more flooding on Tuesday, Sorial returned to try to see how the situation had developed since his first video.
He headed to an area on Chemin de la Pointe-Séguin, a long stretch of road that leads to a more secluded part of the town near the Ottawa River.
“I wanted people to see what’s it’s like now,” he said after uploading that video online on Tuesday.
“And we’ll see what it’s like in a few days.”
Rigaud mayor Hans Gruenwald asked citizens Tuesday not to remove sandbags, but to bolster them if possible to help fight off possible flooding this week.
The town has readied an additional 6,000 sandbags for distribution, if necessary.
The Quebec government has promised to offer compensation to flood victims.
Sorial became interested in drones and aerial photography about a year ago after buying a beginner’s drone online for $60. He started taking photos of his home in St-Lazare and family farm land in Ontario — “I love to see the bird’s-eye view of things” — and upgraded to more expensive equipment as his hobby turned into a passion.
After running into television crews near the flooded area two weeks ago, his footage was featured on national newscasts last week. He uploads most of his drone videos to his YouTube and Facebook accounts, both under the name AerialPhoto Plus.