Chelsea, Que., issues state of emergency after Friday flooding

Chelsea, Que., has issueda state of emergency after Friday's heavy rainfall.

The state of emergency will last 48 hours from about 9 a.m. Saturday, the municipality's mayor, Pierre Gunard, said in a video posted to Facebook.

Itwillallow emergency crewsto respond to the damage quickly, Gunard said.

"We still have many residents that are cut off their road has been literally cut in half,"Gunardsaid in the video.

He's calling for residents to be respectful of workers and heavymachinery on municipal roads.

The intense rainfall faced by the area was leftover from the tropical storm Debby.

In neighbouring Gatineau,Que., Environment Canada had recorded 83 millimetres of rain by 5 p.m. Friday, blowing past the city's previous Aug. 9 rain record set in 1959 of roughly 43 millimetres. An overall rainfall total for Friday wasn't immediately available.

The rain has meant GatineauPark's parkway network isclosed to motor vehicles,according to the National Capital Commission (NCC).

Shuttle service has been suspended for the remainder of the weekend.

While the Fortune and Gatineauparkways are open to cyclists and pedestrians, the Champlain Parkwayis closed to all visitors due to collapsed pavement.

In a statement Saturday afternoon, the NCCsaid they recommend thepublic stay off allGatineau Park trails for now as crews are still assessing the damage.

Trail 5is closed due to a large sinkhole, they added.

Roads still closed in Ottawa

Ottawa also set a daily rainfall record Friday with 45.3millimetres.

As of 5 p.m. Saturday, five roads remained closed in the citydue to the flooding, according to a memo from city staff to council:

• Steacie Drive between TeronRoad and Alfred CassonWay.
• Old Second Line Road between Thomas A. Dolan Parkway and Murphy Side Road.
• MarchurstRoad at Murphy Side Road.
• March Road at Carp Road.
• Old Maple Lanebetween Thomas A. Dolan Parkway and Strode Avenue.

All of those locations were deemed to be "stable" following inspections,wrote acting general manager of public works Quentin Levesque and acting general manager of infrastructure and water services Carina Duclosin the memo.

The city doesn't believe any of those sites will get worse, Duclos and Levesqueadded. People can check the city's interactive traffic map for updates, they said.

"The immediate focus is on reinstating laneways in the Carp Village area, improving access to homes, addressing priority shoulder work on critical roads and conducting early culvert repairs," their memo said.

West Carleton-March Coun.Clarke Kelly said the rain had a major impact, with residents in his ward dealingwith flooded basements and washed-out driveways.

"We're used to the springtime flooding that sometimes happens along the rivers ... but what we saw here yesterday in terms of flooding being caused by rain, I've never seen that before," he said.

Kelly saidthe city is working to restore culverts and remove debris so that residents can get in and out of their driveways. He anticipated the affected roads wouldremain closed for 36-48 hours from Saturday afternoon.

Staff in the infrastructure, water services and public works departments at the City of Ottawaare doing a full evaluation of the infrastructure needs in in the area, Kelly added.

"If this is going to be the new normal, then I think we better focus quickly on expanding that infrastructure and getting ready for more rain in the future," he said.

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Kelly said anyone in his ward who needsassistance should reach out to his office or the city.

Residents who've had their basements flood should report the situation for inspection by calling 311, Duclos and Levesque wrote in their memo.