St-Leonard residents call for long-term solutions as city unveils $68.6M in flood prevention infrastructure

For St-Leonard homeowner Antonio Sgambato, every major rainfall comes with anxiety.

“We get stressed, we get nervous, because we never know,” said Sgambato, who says his property has been flooded three times this year.

The longtime resident said he poured out roughly $13,000 on floor pumps to prevent his basement from being flooded, but still worries every time rain is in the forecast.

“We don’t deserve this. I think the city can do a lot better than that,” he said.

Sgambato said he’s one among a long line of St-Leonard residents who say they’ve been dealing with flooding problems for years and have repeatedly called for major upgrades to the borough’s aging sewer infrastructure.

Their concerns come as the City of Montreal announced a series of measures Tuesday aimed at helping residents manage flood risks while work advances on larger infrastructure projects.

Among them is the planned reconstruction of the undersized Langelier water collector, a major drainage conduit that city officials say will eventually play a key role in reducing flooding in the borough. However, officials acknowledged the project remains in the planning stages and have not provided a timeline for completion.

In the meantime, the city is rolling out what it calls “transitional measures” to help residents adapt to increasingly frequent extreme weather events.

“Will we ever be able to give people a guarantee that there will be no flooding? The answer is no. Mother Nature doesn’t give us a heads up,” said Alan DeSousa, Montreal executive committee member responsible for infrastructure and mobility.

The city told reporters Tuesday that climate change is producing rainfall volumes that exceed what existing infrastructure was designed to handle.

“We’ve got in some cases as much as 175 millimeters of rain in a day,” DeSousa said.

Montreal invests $68.6M in flood prevention infrastructure

As part of its broader strategy, Montreal is investing more than $68.6 million in flood prevention infrastructure across the city.

Part of that includes the Saint-Jacques retention basin project in the Sud-Ouest borough. The underground structure will be capable of storing up to 15 million litres of stormwater and wastewater, helping reduce flood risks for residents and limiting overflows into the St. Lawrence River during heavy rains.

Construction is scheduled to begin this month and be completed by winter 2028.

The city is also expanding other flood mitigation efforts, including the St-Leonard Coubertin sponge park, which was designed to absorb rainwater before it reaches the sewer network.

St-Leonard Borough Mayor Dominic Perri told CityNews the borough has also planted more than 1,300 trees since 2021 and is incorporating water retention features into new green spaces and development projects.

“Any green space that we do now, it’s with the idea of retaining water,” he said.

The city has also increased funding for its RénoPlex financial assistance program by $2 million, bringing the total budget to $10.3 million for 2026. The program helps homeowners install flood protection measures such as flood barriers and drainage improvements.

A $2 million emergency reserve fund has also been established to respond to extreme weather events.

‘Big talk’ but ‘no action’ from the city: St-Leonard residents

St-Leonard is now launching a series of workshops for residents living in areas most vulnerable to flooding. The first sessions, scheduled for the second week of June, will allow homeowners to meet directly with city experts and learn about available financial assistance and flood protection options.

Perri says the workshops are intended to answer residents’ questions and help them better protect their properties while larger infrastructure projects move forward.

“We will have as many workshops as necessary in order to give the right information to citizens,” he said.

However, some residents question why these initiatives are only being launched now.

“I find it really unfair that they’re focusing on other areas that could wait,” said Tina Di Serio of the St-Leonard Citizens’ Committee, which was formed in response to flooding in the borough last year when Montreal saw up to 100 millimetres of rain.

Sgambato told CityNews that “it’s been years” since city officials “keep saying that,” referring to past promises to overhaul St-Leonard’s drainage system dating back to Dominic Perri’s predecessor, Michel Bissonnet, who was in office for close to 20 years.

The homeowner said St-Leonard needed more “fundamental” changes to its infrastructure to prevent flooding. He took aim at the city’s Tuesday transitional plan as a measure to “just to keep people down, pretend the city is doing something.”

“There’s only big talk, but there’s no action,” he said.

Sgambato said he plans on attending one of the borough’s consultation workshops next week. He said the goal is simple: get answers about when a long-term solution might finally arrive.

“I know it’s not easy because of climate change and everything,” he said. “But the city has to do their part.”