A Quyon couple that had their basement fill with water on March 23 are waiting to hear back from the Ministry of Transport (MTQ), to determine the cause of the sudden flood.

Beverly Stanley and her husband live on . . .

Egan Street, near the intersection with Hwy. 148. After heavy rainfall at the end of March, their basement and property was filled with water. Stanley’s husband dug a hole in the yard to determine how high the water table was, and it contained nearly three feet of water.

They called a plumber in, who told them that the water was running from the highway.

Municipality of Pontiac Mayor Joanne Labadie said that she had spoken with the public works department to look into the issue, but ultimately, the ball is in the MTQ’s court.

“I forwarded the issue on to our public works department and asked them to follow up with the Ministry of Transport and on the 7th of April the Ministry of Transport did respond and they went over and did an inspection and did some work to grade the side of the road to allow for a better flow of water.”

However, both Labadie and the Stanleys suspect that the cause of the flooding was the filling in of a ditch and the removal of a culvert from a neighbouring property. Labadie said they followed up with a request that the MTQ provide their rationale for removing the culvert, and asked that a drainage study be performed on the area. She added that they may have to file an access to information request to get the full details.

“We’re still waiting to get any information from the Ministry of Transport, they haven’t responded yet to our request but I’ve also asked if it was possible to get a drainage study of the area,” she said. “I’m assuming that since they did work last summer, they … filled in the ditch from the neighbour next door who demolished a building and then filled in their land. At the same, when that happened, that happened on vacant corner of 148 and Egan, when that work was done by the property owner, the MTQ also … filled in the ditch and they removed the culvert that … went from a drainage ditch between the two properties to across the road into another ditch. So I’ve asked if they did a drainage study prior to that work, and if so could we get updated on it. Why did they choose to do that?”

She emphasized that this issue was not technically a municipal issue, but that they were making an effort to help the Stanleys find a solution.

“I spoke with André Fortin, because both the 148 and chemin Egan is MTQ, we have no jurisdiction over that road,” she said. “As a courtesy we reached out to MTQ on behalf of the property owners so now it’s really in their hands.”

In the mean time, Stanely said that she was concerned about mould in her basement, and they were paying out of pocket to address the immediate damage.

“My son and a friend of his is cleaning out [the basement], there’s mould now in the house,” she said.

She added that an insurance representative had visited and taken pictures, but they would have to wait until it is determined who is at fault before receiving any reimbursement.

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