Heavy rainfall in the last 24 hours has forced communities in Montérégie and Lanaudière to go on alert.
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This is the case in the towns of Saint-Constant and Sainte-Catherine, where several streets were closed to traffic, particularly because of the water level of the Saint-Régis river, which threatened to overflow its banks on Monday.
The fire department of the Alliance des Grandes-Seigneuries, which includes Saint-Constant, Sainte-Catherine, Delson and Candiac, had already received 27 calls related to flooding due to heavy rains in the afternoon.
“It is extraordinary, the level of the waterways is crucial,” emphasized communications manager Patricia Traversy.
She feared that citizens would notice damage when they returned from work and when rainfall began again in the evening.
Sandbags
In Saint-Mathieu-de-Beloeil in the Richelieu Valley, teams had to quickly get out sandbags to protect homes from water pooling on the ground.
“I have been to several places on our territory, about thirty. We put sandbags on the street. “We had a daycare that was about to flood,” Mayor Normand Teasdale told TVA Nouvelles.
He himself had to get a pump from his basement to direct the water to his garden outside. “It flows freely, it doesn’t stop at all, the water table is very high,” he explained.
Preventive evacuations
In Lanaudière, the municipality of Saint-Félix-de-Valois has issued a preventive evacuation notice for around a hundred homes and around twenty chalets.
An ice jam formed and the L'Assomption River exceeded the flood threshold.
“Depending on the evolution of the situation, areas in flood zones may experience rapid and sudden flooding,” explained communications director Mathieu Robert.
About twenty kilometers away, in Sainte-Marceline de Kildare, Route 343 was partially closed in the afternoon due to water accumulation in the area.
With VAT news