The mayor of Lachine says there should be a ban on new construction of basement apartments in flood-prone areas of Montreal to help prevent residents from experiencing flooding during severe weather events.
During a council meeting on Monday night, Mayor Maja Vodanovic addressed concerned residents, highlighting the urgent need for action following the heavy rainfall from Tropical Storm Debby last month.
“We don’t want to create a problem that we know is going to happen,” said Vodanovic.
Many residents in St. Leonard, a neighbourhood particularly vulnerable to flooding, are still grappling with the storm’s aftermath.
“Literally every summer, every time there’s like one day of a lot of rain, even if it’s a little bit or a lot, there’s always water, always,” explained Kareen, a resident.
On Aug. 9, Montreal experienced an unprecedented downpour, with over 150 millimeters of rain falling. This record-breaking storm not only flooded homes but also made history as the costliest severe weather event in Quebec with $2.5 billion in insured losses, according to the Insurance Bureau of Canada (IBC).
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“It’s a catastrophe to a lot of people especially the people who live in basement apartments. It’s a life drama. I mean they’ve lost some people have lost their their life savings,” said Vodanovic.
The Ville-Marie borough has already made changes to prevent the construction of new dwellings below street level in flood control zones.
Vodanovic, who is also the city’s head of water infrastructure, says that existing basement apartments can remain, however, it’s up to residents to protect them from water damage, as updating the city’s water infrastructure will take time and money.
“We have a plan like we have the RénoPlex program that we kind of tuned a bit to include all the solutions that you can have for flooding.”
The city has a funding program that allows residents the opportunity to receive up to $20,000 for renovations on one-unit homes and up to $40,000 for multi-unit buildings to better protect homes from water damage.
Some residents say they have already done the needed renovations, but the problem still persists.
“I spent almost $20,000 to do what the city recommended, I added in pumps, valves everything, it didn’t help,” said resident Ludmyla Marunych.
Kareen says, “We keep complaining about it and telling them they need to fix it, but they tell us you need to do this so that it doesn’t happen, which we do, and it still happens, so clearly that’s not the problem.”
During the council meeting, a unanimous motion was passed calling on the provincial government to make changes to its financial compensation program for homeowners affected by weather-related flooding.
In the meantime, residents are urged to take matters into their own hands.
“I mean at this point, yeah, it’s frustrating that we have to go through this every single year,” said Kareen.