Jason Flam hustled to keep five pumps going Wednesday as the floodwater crept from Pierrefonds Blvd. onto his property.
His muscles were sore and he was operating on little to no sleep since rain had battered the West Island all morning. After days of fighting back the water, Flam waited in his cold, wet parking lot and hoped to catch a lucky break.
“Right now it could go either way,” said Flam, who owns a shopping centre in Pierrefonds. “I’d say it’s a 50/50 chance. If this is as high as the water goes, we’re OK. If it goes any higher, I think we’re in trouble.”
It’s been nearly a week since a mix of rain and melted snow caused rivers to swell across the province — displacing thousands of homeowners in and around Montreal, Gatineau, Laurentians and the Chaudière Appalaches region. Wednesday’s bad weather meant water will only begin to recede Thursday at the earliest.
And while many have praised their Pierrefonds’s quick-response to the flooding, Flam says he’s disappointed. The business owner says he has received no help from city workers and he’s had to rely on volunteers to stack pallets of sand outside his shops.
As of 1 p.m. Wednesday, 515 people across Quebec haven’t been able to get back to their homes, more than 1,800 homes remained flooded and 2,000 were surrounded by water.
In Montreal, there are 40 firefighters, 30 soldiers and 40 police officers working full time on flood relief, according to the city’s fire department.
“We have it under control, but we’re asking people not to let their guard down,” said Martin Guilbault, the fire department’s chief of operations. “We’re still going door to door checking on people in the most affected areas.”
In Île-Bigras, one of the worst-hit spots in the Montreal region, first-responders dug in and prepared for the worst.
In the event that floodwaters threaten to cut the tiny island off from Laval, seven firefighters remained camped out in a chalet in the sector. They’re ready to go door to door and start evacuating those among the island’s 381 residents who haven’t yet left their homes.
As of Wednesday afternoon, the Île-Bigras bridge remained open, but as one official noted, the situation was in flux.
“Right now, it’s up to the water what happens,” said Const. Evelyne Boudreau, the spokesperson for Laval’s police department. “If we reach a situation where the water is too high or debris is threatening to damage the bridge, we’ll evacuate the island.
“We’re not there yet, but we’re ready.”
Members of the Montreal Police cavalry patrol a flooded neighbourhood on Île-Bizard on Wednesday.
In Laval Ouest, city workers installed a new section of dikes Wednesday to protect 150 homes threatened by the swelling of the Rivière des Mille Îles. In a matter of hours, they set up 775 metres of emergency dikes, which stood between four and six feet tall.
About 50 homes have been flooded so far in Laval.
Meanwhile, some 1,000 soldiers are stationed across the province, with many maintaining dikes along the Chaudière River in the Chaudières-Appalaches region and Lake of Two Mountains in the Laurentians. Those regions account for over half of the homes affected by flooding.
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