Making 1st public appearance since storm, Mayor Plante says she is working hard protect to Montreal from flooding

Mayor Valérie Plante says the City of Montreal is continually working on making the city more flood proof.

Plante was making her first public appearance since Friday’s historic rainfall in Montreal – and across Quebec – led to serious flooding.

The mayor says multiple projects – including many in the works – are aimed at floodproofing Montreal.

“We didn’t wait today as an administration to work on,” Plante said. “I know there’s a lot of construction sites in the city of Montreal, but most of them, the majority of them are because we’re replacing those big pipes. So we will continue to do that and we will continue to adapt the territory with different initiatives like the water park and sidewalks and streets.

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“My message is that we will continue to be dedicated in working on two sides, because sometimes people will say there is flooding because the pipes are not good enough. And I really want to say that for me, we will continue to work on two sides, which is to replace the pipes, which is super important – even though brand new pipes will not be able to contain necessarily a flash rain or that quantity of water. And this is why we will also work on the surface.”

Although Plante was active on social media during the rainfall and flooding aftermath, many Montrealers were vocal – both online and on the ground – about her absence from the public in the days since.

She says her administration has been working hard to help.

“I am glad that on Friday, the people that were helping were actually public security with the firefighters, the SPVM, all the people that could help them to maybe save some of their stuff or to protect them. Some people were stuck in their car, sorry about that.

“Ultimately what I want to say to Montreal is though, first of all, that I feel, I understand their concern and anxiety because it’s a personal drama that a lot of people lived. And we will continue to do everything we can to help them, accompany them through insurance and those things as much as we can.”

Plante is directing citizens to the 3-1-1 service if they need support and have questions.