J.D. Potié
PONTIAC May 20, 2019
Over the last month, record floods have devastated various parts of the region causing significant damage to local infrastructure and leaving hundreds of people stranded forced to be evacuated from their homes.
On May 14, Quebec Minister of Municipal Affairs Andrée Laforest and Family minister for the Outaouais region Mathieu Lacombe visited the Municipality of Pontiac (MoP) to consult its leaders and assess the situation in the area.
Having experienced the 2017 floods and the tornados in 2018, the MoP was well prepared for this year’s natural disaster, according to Mayor Joanne Labadie.
Starting out in early March by clearing ice from sewer drains, culverts and ditches to induce water flow and ordering hundreds of thousands of sandbags, municipal staff did everything they could to minimize the impact of the floods.
“[It allowed us to] be proactive instead of reactive,” said Labadie. “Had there not been a major flood we would’ve been over prepared. But, I’d rather be over prepared than under prepared. I think in general it has served us well.”
According to Labadie, Lacombe was very impressed by the initiatives taken by municipal staff in efforts of preventing the natural disaster from getting out of hand, including updating its security measures plan.
“They were surprised that we had already been proactive,” she said.
In 2017, the MoP distributed around 45,000 sandbags throughout the municipality.
This year, the same amount of sandbags had already been ordered in early March allowing them to stockpile enough for such a major disaster. In the end, they distributed just over 170,000 sandbags in different sectors of the Pontiac.
“We were also able to help other municipalities like Rapides-des-Joachims and Mansfield,” she said. “They didn’t have any sandbags so we were able to ship some of our surplus empty bags to them until they got their order in.”
In the MoP, rising waters have damaged a variety of roads, ditches and culverts, causing several to remain closed as a result of getting completely washed out. According to Labadie, some of those roads have been re-opened, including the Fifth concession, chemin Gold Mine and chemin Farrell.
However, some of them will take some time to be repaired having been severely flooded and in some cases washed out, including chemin Bronson-Bryant in Quyon which claimed the life of local resident Lousie Lortie Séguin that took place last April.
While many properties in the municipality are still flooded and evacuated, making it impossible to determine the total cost of the damages, Labadie said that the floods have cost the town around $300,000 in municipal expenses so far.
“Until the water recedes, we won’t be able to assess the damages,” said Labadie.
When it comes to financial relief, Labadie said she expects at least the majority of the costs to be covered. However, the official plan from the Ministry of Municipal Affairs has not been publicized.
The Ministry of Public Security is planning on holding a public consultation, on a date to be determined, which will consist of a Q&A for flood victims to give them a better idea of the process behind the plan they’re putting together.
With thousands of sandbags and countless tons of sand and gravel scattered across the municipality, Labadie said her staff has notified the Ministry of Public Security that they would welcome assistance form the military to clean up the mess.
While contractors and public workers will have a sufficient amount of hands on deck to remove the colossal dike in Quyon, the municipality does need a tremendous amount of support when it comes to removing all the contaminated sandbags from the area, Labadie said.
“What we would like it for them to manage the entire project,” she said.
In Fort Coulonge, part of the town’s sewer system was forcibly shut down, with a large number of streets, including rue Baume, rue Francoeur and rue Bord de L’eau submerged underwater.
Approximately 100 homes in the town have been evacuated, according to Director General Ellen Boucher.
According to Boucher, water levels in the village have slightly receded.
For total costs in damage, nothing concrete has been determined as water levels are still too high to fully assess the matter.
According to Boucher, the Ministry of Public Security has been meeting with residence over the last week to provide information on how they can seek some form of relief following the evacuations.
“So far it’s gone very well,” she said. “Their system is well established to provide answers to our questions relatively quickly. Inside of the same day we’re able to get answers.”
In Mansfield et Pontefract, numerous roads remain submerged in water with many severely damaged by the floods.
According to Mayor Gilles Dionne, the municipality has assessed some of the damage, however with many roads still underwater a more complete assessment has yet to be determined.
With severe flooding in the municipality, 20 of the town’s roads were closed. Among those are chemin de la Passe, chemin des Rapides and chemin Pearson.
Despite spending around $120,000 to raise and renovate chemin Pearson last year, it has unfortunately faced a significant amount of damage, according to Dionne.
As for cheming de la Passe, which was also raised up and renovated to be more durable during floods, the road is currently underwater and damages won’t be fully assessed until the water goes down.
For residents seeking financial relief or assistance, councilors have advised them to contact the Ministere de la Securite Publique with information on how to register available on municipalities’ websites.
Despite completing a resolution on the floods around a week ago, municipality still has to wait for a postmortem in order to decide what their next move will be.
With no specific amount of money detailing the severity of the damages, the only Dionne is certain about is that it’s going to cost the municipality more than a hefty buck.
“There’s lots of millions,” said Dionne. “That’s for sure.”
