More than a thousand homes across Quebec have been flooded in over the weekend, as temperatures rise, snow melts, and heavy rain falls
The flooding event – Quebec’s second major flooding event in three years – comes just days after the province had passed a new disaster relief program, which puts a restriction on the amount of compensation given to homeowners in flood-prone areas.
Many of the flood-affected homes lie in communities south of Quebec City; at least half of the flooded-in properties are in Sainte-Marie, CBC News reported.
According to Environment and Climate Change Canada meteorologist Marie-Ève Giguère, Quebec “had exactly the ingredients” to create a severe flooding scenario.
“A significant thaw, overnight lows above zero and a lot of rain,” the expert explained.
While the water levels of the Ottawa and Gatineau rivers – which rose 6 to 10 centimetres overnight at the height of the flooding - have begun to stabilize, some other properties in Quebec are still at high risk of flooding.
Gatineau mayor Maxime Pedneaud-Jobin told a press conference that 985 properties in the community were in danger from the flood waters.
