Flood watch: 1 dead as Quebec braces for tense weekend with army, Red Cross
As communities across Quebec continue to fight against spring flooding, local police in the Outaouais region announced Saturday a woman has died after rising waters washed out the road she was driving on.
The accident happened in Pontiac, roughly 40 kilometres west of Ottawa, which declared a state of emergency on Friday due to rising waters on the Ottawa River.
According to police, early information suggests the road crumbled and the woman’s car crashed into the creek flowing beneath it.
Troops from the Canadian Armed Forces are expected to be deployed in communities across Quebec Saturday.
Hoping to “mitigate the consequences as much as possible” for citizens and infrastructure, Quebec Public Security Minister Geneviève Guilbault announced Friday the province had asked for help from the Canadian government.
In a post on his Twitter account, Quebec Premier François Legault confirmed soon after that he had spoken with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and received confirmation the army will be stepping in.
“We’re following the situation,” Legault wrote, “especially in Laval, Gatineau, Rigaud, Beauceville and Saint-Raymond.”
Guilbault has not specified how many troops would be called into service to assist local authorities on the ground but noted they would be deployed where most needed and stay as long as needed.
On Saturday morning, local police from Pontiac, in the Outaouais region, announced a woman had died in a car accident after spring flooding washed out the road she was driving on.
Early information suggests the road crumbled and the car crashed into the creek, police said. No further details were available.
Pontiac had declared a state of emergency on Friday due to rising waters on the Ottawa River.
As of Saturday morning, Environment Canada had lifted a rainfall warning for the greater Montreal area. The forecasts had been calling for between 30 and 60 millimetres of rain through Saturday afternoon. Roughly 30 millimetres of rain fell on Friday.
Several communities worked through the night to distribute sandbags, erect barriers and build dikes.
The Sûreté du Québec has put mobile command posts in place in Beauceville and Rigaud, two of the hardest hit areas so far. Police officers have been going to door to ensure everyone is safe.
Friends of home owner Andy McCallum on Île Mercier in Pierrefonds help him prepare for the expected flooding from the Rivière des Prairies Friday, April 19, 2019.
In Beauceville, 38 homes were flooded and 47 people were evacuated. Some were allowed to return to their homes after safety checks. The Canadian Red Cross has set up shop in the municipal library to help anyone in need.
In Rigaud on Friday, residents were preparing for the worst but also remaining stubborn about leaving their homes behind. In all, 24 people were forced to evacuate.
In Laval, one of the first cities to declare a state of emergency earlier this week, four sand loading sites have been set up as of Saturday morning. A disaster service centre equipped with Red Cross personnel, located at the city’s Accès service centre, is now open 24 hours a day.
As of Friday, the city had established that 1,500 addresses were in danger of flooding.
Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante said Friday the city is focusing on areas most affected by flooding in the past, including Ahuntsic, Pierrefonds and Île Bizard, where blue-collar workers, firefighters and volunteers have been helping residents get ready for what might come.
“We’ve put a lot of energy into it but, ultimately, it is Mother Nature who decides things,” Plante said.
Plante said no large-scale evacuations are anticipated in Montreal for the time being, but as a precaution, the city moved some people out of a few centres where physically challenged people reside in the Pierrefonds-Roxboro borough. The regional health board later sent out a tweet stating that 22 patients at Pavillon Pierrefonds were moved to another location.
Pierrefonds-Roxboro opened a “Multiservice Flood Assistance Centre” on Saturday morning at the Pierrefonds Cultural Centre.
Through the night, the borough delivered sandbags to all homes on Maçons St., added pumps to a dike on Chateau-Pierrefonds St., and installed “hundreds of metres” of barriers along Lalande Blvd.
While announcing she had asked for the army’s help on Friday, Guilbault said the situation was developing as expected but, depending on the weather, the worst of the flooding might only come on Sunday, instead of Saturday as first thought.
Presse Canadienne contributed to this report.