.jpg)
Although thousands of homeowners of a community in Quebec have been cleared to return to their houses following a dike breach, they return to properties that have been subjected to considerable water damage.
Major flooding occurred in the suburb of Saint-Marthe-sur-le-Lac over the weekend, due to water from the Lake of Two Mountains breaching a local dike. The flood risk forced some 6,000 residents to evacuate their homes.
Just yesterday, the residents of 1,485 homes were cleared to return to their properties, but were warned by authorities that they will not have running water or electricity for an indefinite amount of time.
More disheartening than the lack of utilities is the water damage many of the homes experienced, as one man recounted.
Maxime Pimpare, a Saint-Marthe-sur-le-Lac local, once thought his home would be prepared for flooding with two pumps and a generator. His property was spared during the first round of flooding, but he was ordered to evacuate on Saturday as conditions worsened.
“When we [left] the home there was no water in the street, it was all dry -- so we said there’s no emergency,” Pimpare told CTV News.
But when he returned home yesterday, Pimpare was surprised to find that the water had ruined the bottom level of his home. Floodwater had even managed to seep under the stairs leading to the upper floor of the house.
“I just finished doing everything -- the walls, the floor. I built everything myself last year. It was one of our projects to buy a house, do some little work, and then sell it back, buy a bigger one,” he said, adding that it was his first home.
Pimpare also revealed that he “lost everything,” and that his insurance will not cover him.
The 3.5 kilometre dike in question that failed to contain the flood was last repaired in 2009, Premier Francois Legault revealed during a recent press conference. Following record flooding in 2017, a private firm determined that the dike was in need of millions of dollars’ worth of additional work to be properly repaired.
Sainte-Marthe-sur-le-Lac Mayor Sonia Paulus revealed that the town had identified the dike as a vulnerable point two years ago; since then, the community has been trying to secure provincial funding to reinforce it.
