Quebec floods: water surrounds homes in Terrasse-Vaudreuil, west of Montreal

“We might be calm, cool and collected being our third time at the rodeo, but it’s by no means normal,” says Tyler Fitzsimons, a Terrasse-Vaudreuil resident, west of Montreal, as his home is surrounded by floodwater. Alyssia Rubertucci reports.

By Alyssia Rubertucci

In Terrasse-Vaudreuil on Île-Perrot, west of Montreal, one of the ways residents are able to leave their homes is on a canoe. Floodwater surrounding their properties run a few feet deep and leave them no choice but to wade through it or get in a boat.

Marc Stien, who’s lived on the shore of the Lake of Two Mountains for 40 years, says the current situation isn’t so bad for him, but that water levels have been climbing.

“It’s difficult, but it’s not bad now, but we don’t know if it’s coming another foot more, it would be terrible,” he said.

Terrasse-Vaudreuil resident, Marc Stien. (Credit: Alyssia Rubertucci, CityNews image)

The water levels threaten his next door neighbour and his tenant, Tyler Fitzsimons, whose basement is flooding.

“When I first moved here, I was looking for a water view, I didn’t think it would come to me every spring,” he said.

The same thing happened in 2017 and 2019 for Fitzsimons and his neighbourhood and water levels then were even higher.

Terrasse-Vaudreuil resident, Tyler Fitzsimons. (Credit: Alyssia Rubertucci, CityNews image)

This time around, he’s prepared and has taken precautions.

“Inside everything is raised up about an extra foot and all three years it’s come just about an inch from going in, so it’s never really made it in,” he said. “But every year you wonder if it’s going to be the mother of all floods, so you kind of raise everything up a little bit and hope for the best, but expect the worst.”

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20 homes in the area are surrounded by water and four were flooded by Thursday afternoon.

The fire department has delivered pallets of sandbags to residents and firefighters are on the ground visiting residents twice a day to check in on them. 

Terrasses-Vaudreuil fire chief, Stéphane Rozon, says the water levels have stabilized.

“We do have a measurement of 24.30, which is the highest peak we reached in the last few weeks,” he said. “But we noticed that it’s stabilized a little by little and we’re looking forward for a nice weather and it should slowly go down to reach a lower levels in the next few days, next weeks.”

Terrasse-Vaudreuil fire chief, Stéphane Rozon. (Credit: Alyssia Rubertucci, CityNews image)

Water levels are expected to recede, but if it manages to climb another six inches, it would mean Fitzsimons will have to evacuate.

“Now we’re in that ominous part where you kind of wait and see what what’s coming,” he said.

Authorities said that the small town is about 25 to 30 centimeters away from reaching the highest peak attained in the 2019 flooding.

“For us, it is still a foot below, so I don’t think we’re going to go higher,” said Rozon.

For Fitzsimons, he wants to see more permanent actions to address this.

“We might be calm, cool and collected being our third time at the rodeo, but it’s by no means by no means normal,” he said. “It’s certainly not anything we look forward to every year.”

Warmer weather forecasted for the weekend may bring good news on the flood front.

“We’re hoping everything will be fine, we have hope and we hope people have it too,” said Rozon.

“There certainly comes that frustration, but I think by the time the good weather in June comes, you’re over it and you start to appreciate the little place again,” said Fitzsimons.

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