Quebec premier on the defensive for his response to torrential rainfall

Nearly a week after the torrential rains that caused damage throughout southern Quebec, Premier François Legault visited Louiseville in Mauricie on Thursday to inspect the damage.

Legault met with Mayor Yvon Deshaies and various stakeholders in the region, who are trying to recover from the heavy rains of Storm Debby.

In a press conference, Legault tried to reassure citizens about their financial compensation from the floods and said the government is looking to adjust some programs.

“I will ensure with François Bonnardel that in an exceptional situation, we look to put in place exceptional programs,” he said.

Legault said he’s aware that insurance companies are overloaded at the moment and urged the public to contact public safety at 1-888-AIDE (2433) if needed.

About 250 Louiseville residents were affected by the flooding, municipality spokesperson Guillaume St-Pierre said in an interview Wednesday with The Canadian Press. Surrounding rivers overflowed into fields that couldn’t absorb all the water.

As a result, water rushed into people’s basements. Even the municipal arena was flooded, and a pipe that provides drinking water broke in a landslide. It has since been repaired and the water supply has returned to normal.

Teams of municipal employees from the city of Trois-Rivières helped Louiseville collect debris piled up in the streets by residents.

In an interview with Radio-Canada, Mayor Deshaies even requested the army’s help.

However, Legault rejected the possibility of requesting help from the army.

“With public security, we are able, and with the help of the surrounding municipalities, to find ten or twelve people. We don’t need the Canadian army for that,” he said.

On Tuesday, Quebec said 14 municipalities were still under a state of emergency.

In some areas, rainfall from Tropical Storm Debby reached 200 millimetres in 24 hours. The regions of Montreal, the Laurentians, Lanaudière and Mauricie were largely affected.

At the height of the storm, Friday evening, more than 550,000 Hydro-Québec customers were without power.

Legault was making his first public appearance since Tropical Storm Debby last week, which affected around 2,300 homes and forced the evacuation of 464 people. Public infrastructure was also damaged.

The Quebec Premier was also bombarded with questions as to why he had not visited areas earlier.

“When there are hundreds of places, do I go to Lanaudière? Do I come to Mauricie? Do I go to Quebec? Do I go to Montérégie?” he said.

Legault said his priorities were restoring power to the customers who were left in darkness after the downpour and fixing damaged roads that left hundreds of houses isolated.

According to Public Security Minister François Bonnardel, 86 municipalities were affected by the weather last weekend, but on Wednesday, it dropped to 34.

38 homes were flooded out of the 2,300 that were hit.

In addition, nearly 170 roads were damaged. Highway 13 in Montreal was reopened Thursday morning, but more work will be needed in the coming weeks.

A warning has been issued over possible landslides which can often occur with clay soils.

Signs of a landslide include a crack, a bulge in a slope, and an unusual flow of water.

Quebec’s union of municipalities has called for more financial support to implement climate adaptation measures. 

According to Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante, an additional $2 billion per year would be needed for all municipalities. For Montreal alone, the mayor is demanding half of this amount. 

Plante also apologized for her absence during Storm Debby.

The government has already set aside more than $5.6 billion for municipalities to improve their infrastructure and combat riverbank erosion.

Some disaster victims will be eligible for financial assistance under the General Disaster Financial Assistance Program, if they meet the eligibility criteria, the government announced.

–This report by La Presse Canadienne was translated by CityNews