Over 1,000 homes flooded across Quebec as water continues to rise - Action News
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Montreal

Over 1,000 homes flooded across Quebec as water continues to rise

Spring floods around Quebec have forced more than 1,200 people out of their homes, andaround 600Canadian Forces troops are being deployed to the most vulnerable areas.

Legault says province is looking at incentives to move for those who live in flood-prone areas

Emergency workers used a boat to help residents in Sainte-Marie, Que., where 500 people have been forced from their homes. (Jacques Boissinot/Canadian Press)

Hundreds more people across southern Quebec were forced to leave their homesbecause of flooding that officials say will only increase as temperatures rise Sunday and melt more snow.

Around 600 Canadian Forces troops have been deployed across the province, with some already at work Saturday night.

"The evacuations are going well," said ric Houde, director of Quebec's civil security operations. "Everyone in these regions remembers the floods of 2017 ... the municipalities' level of preparation is significant."

Homes evacuated

More than 1,000 homes have flooded in the province, so farthe majority of them in communities south of Quebec City, including 500 in Sainte-Marie, about 60 kilometres south of the provincial capital.

In Sainte-Marie, some residents'vehicles are under water and locals are using boats to helptheir neighbours leave their homes.

The Chaudire River was rising around20 to 25 centimetres per hour Sunday morning and had reached levels the town's mayor, Gatan Vachon, said were unprecedented.

"We had big floods in 1987 and 1991,"Vachonsaid Sunday."At this point we'veexceeded the highest level."

Canadian Forces troops worked until 2 a.m. Sunday in Bcancour , Que., to protect the town's water filtration plant from floodwaters. (Jrme Roy/Radio-Canada)

Temperatures are forecast to reach 18 C in the Montreal area, 17 C in Trois-Rivires and 15 C in Quebec City on Sunday.

"We've had exactly the ingredients" for significant flooding, said Marie-ve Gigure, a meteorologist at Environment and Climate Change Canada. "A significant thaw, overnight lows above zero and a lot of rain."

The forecast for the rest of April shows cooler temperatures across the province and no major precipitation, Gigure said, which should help reduce flooding risks in the days ahead.

With the second major flooding in three years, Quebec Premier Franois Legault said that he wants to create incentives for those living in flood-prone areas to move elsewhere.

"It's sure that climate change is having an impact, and we must adjust our program," he said while visiting affected areas in Laval. "If it's necessary to compel people to move, then we'll do it."

He said his government is considering covering moving costs for Quebecers, once the cost of repeated repairs of flood damage reaches a certain threshold.

Troops in Bcancour, Laval

In Bcancour, across the river from Trois-Rivires, around 20 troops arrived late Saturday night and worked until 2 a.m. putting sandbags around the town's water filtration plant to protect the water supply from contamination.

Approximately 140 troops from CFB Valcartier arrived in Gatineau Saturday night. The soldiers will be deployed across the Outaouais on Sunday morning, tienne Dion, a military public affairs officer, told Radio-Canada.

About 200 troops arrived in Laval Sunday as waters rose in the Rivire des Prairies and the Outaouais and Mille les rivers, but the Montreal area has been thus far spared from major flooding.

Quebec Public Security Minister Genevive Guilbault said Saturday evening that troops were also being sent to Saint-Andr-Avelin, Trois-Rivires and Pontiac where a 72-year-old woman died yesterday after floods washed out a road.

In Saint-Joseph-du-Lac, just west of Montreal, Sarah Montplaisir had to move everything in her basement into her living room when water began pouring in. (Ivanoh Demers/Radio-Canada)

In the Montreal area, roads in Laval, le Bizard and Pierrefonds have flooded, with some local road closures, but Urgence Qubec had not reported any flooded homes on Sunday morning. Four people have left their homesin Laval.

Officials in Montreal have built temporary barricades in vulnerable areas around the city, said Martin Guilbault, chief of operations at the Montreal fire department.He saidcitizens in threatened areas need to protect their homes with sandbags that have either been delivered or are available for pickup at distribution centres.

Residents of Ruisseau Avenue, in the AhuntsicCartierville borough near the Rivire des Prairies, built a barrier to protect their neighbourhood. (Romain Schu/Radio-Canada)

TheCity of Montreal has asked for volunteers to help fill sandbags and distribute them in at-risk areas.

In Rigaud, west of Montreal, 25homes have flooded;around50 more are cut off by floodwaters and another100 are atrisk of flooding. The Red Cross says it is housing 21 families that have left their homes in areahotels.

The suburb of Vaudreuil-Dorion, parts of which border the Lake of Two Mountains and the St. Lawrence River, advised residents that a drone would be operating in the area to assess the situation from the air. The Montreal Metropolitan Community is also using a plane to observe the extent of flooding.

In the east end ofGatineau, water levelshaverisen by 40 centimetresover the last 24 hours and will continue to rise, butMayor Maxime Penaud-Jobin said that it does not appear the floodingwill be as bad as in 2017.

Around 40people in Gatineau have soughthelp at a disaster relief shelter.

With files from Radio-Canada