‘The city needs to step up’: Montreal flood victims fed up with lack of help

Article content

After her house in Notre-Dame-de-Grâce filled with two feet of fetid water last summer, Lynda Hoffman followed all of the City of Montreal’s recommendations to avoid future flooding, including installing three backflow valves.

But as the rain started falling last Friday, she again took extra precautions. Together with a friend, Hoffman built barricades to try to direct the water elsewhere and used sandbags to block any potential points of entry.

Article content

It still wasn’t enough. A year after flooding left her with $150,000 in damages, Hoffman’s basement floor and baseboards were again ruined after water “exploded through the P-traps and backflow valves.”

“The city needs to step up,” a frustrated Hoffman said this week, urging municipal authorities to reinforce Montreal’s infrastructure and help those affected by the flooding. “They are not doing their job. They are not there.”

Days after historic rains battered Montreal, residents across the city are still dealing with the aftermath and picking up the pieces. The section of N.D.G. where Hoffman lives was hit hard, but so were St-Laurent, parts of the West Island and other areas.

In all, the city’s fire department responded to 1,391 emergencies related to flooding on Friday and Saturday. The 311 line, meanwhile, received more than 3,400 calls to report a variety of issues related to the rain.

In her first public remarks since the flooding, Mayor Valérie Plante defended the city’s response on Tuesday, saying it has taken steps and is committed to improving the sewer and road infrastructure.

Article content

Article content

“If there are Montrealers who wanted me to be there, I’m sorry,” Plante said, “but it doesn’t at all show a disinterest, because actions speak for themselves.”

The city has said it is trying to improve its infrastructure to deal with the increase in severe storms and rainfalls, including by building 30 sponge parks to absorb water where it would otherwise pool on streets and near buildings.

Asked this week if it plans to improve sewer infrastructure in areas that have proved to be problematic during heavy rainfalls, a spokesperson for the city pointed out that around 158 millimetres of rain fell on Montreal on Friday.

“It is technically and financially very difficult to build networks capable of absorbing such intense rainfall,” the spokesperson said. Residents should focus on ensuring their backflow valves are working, they added, and take steps to ensure water accumulating in the streets can’t spill into their homes.

For Hoffman and others who were flooded again last week, the city’s response falls short. Though all said they understand a historic amount of rain fell, they do not believe they should need to live in fear of flooding every time heavy rain is expected.

Article content

“There is absolutely something wrong (with the infrastructure),” said Franca Bucaro, a St-Léonard resident who has suffered several floods in recent years. “I know it’s a lot of rain, I understand climate change is real. But, meanwhile, what do we do?”

Bucaro, who has also taken steps to protect her home, saw about an inch of water spread across her basement last week.

Half her street was closed because the amount of water made it impossible to cross. Dump trucks have been on site picking up people’s soaked belongings ever since, including appliances and furniture.

“Neighbours that never, ever got flooded are getting flooded now,” Bucaro said, adding many feel abandoned by the city. “There were municipal employees, but no representatives. No one at all.”

N.D.G. resident Ilana Grostern, who like Hoffman is part of an ongoing class action lawsuit over last year’s floods, expressed similar frustrations and said residents are tired of the city putting the blame on them.

“The (borough) hosted a meeting at the end of October where they swore left, right and centre that if everybody installed backflow valves, they wouldn’t get flooded again, so we did that in good faith,” Grostern said.

“But the water came up anyways, because the sewer pressure was so extreme it blew the manhole covers off,” she added.

As she starts repairs on her basement, Hoffman is calling on the city to be more transparent about the issue and to help out those who are struggling to cope with the aftermath.

She questioned whether elected officials understand the devastating consequences flooding can have on people. Her voice cracked with emotion while describing the toll it has taken on her over the last two summers.

“People cannot sustain this level of damage year after year after year,” she said. “And we know we will see more and more of this.”

The Gazette’s Katelyn Thomas contributed to this report.

jfeith@postmedia.com

Article content

Article content