Tropical storm Debby: heavy rain floods St-Laurent homes

Residents of Montreal’s Saint-Laurent borough are increasingly frustrated after waking up to extreme flooding in their homes early Friday morning.

The downpour is as a result of the remnants from tropical storm Debby.

“The water alarm was ringing and I got up to – it was worse this time, it was really bad,” said Michael Simeonidis, whose home was flooded. “The water was up the street. We’ve been pumping away. I have three pumps going, to no avail,” he added.

Homeowners near the intersection of Henri-Bourassa Boulevard West and Norman Street say this is the second flooding occurrence in the area due to Heavy rainfall in about a month. 

“We had around five feet, six feet of water inside the house,” said Haissam Halawi, whose home also suffered major flood damage. “We can’t go to vacation, we are afraid that something happens. It’s no life,” Halawi told CityNews.

Firefighters were also on the scene pumping water out of people’s homes. Some residents had placed sandbags on the edges of their driveways as a preventive measure.

Residents say they’ve reached out to the city to find a solution to the constant flooding but with no luck:

“Nobody wants to help. We go the city, we meet with city councilors and they don’t want to take accountability,” said Jimmy Plaitis, whose home was flooded too.

“We went last week to the city. We spoke with the mayor and everybody, and they don’t have a solution,” added Halawi.

Saint-Laurent borough Mayor Alan DeSousa, who spoke with affected residents Friday morning, says he believes the flooding is preventable.

“Those residential areas in close proximity to the Leduc collector are the ones that have been flooded. And it seems to be that the Leduc collector doesn’t have the capacity to handle more water that’s coming in and for some reason it is full,” the mayor said.

In an email statement to CityNews, the city of Montreal said the best way to prevent flooding is for residents to install backwater valves on all basement plumbing and to adjust landscaping to stop street water from flowing toward their homes.

Meanwhile, DeSousa says the Saint-Laurent recreation centre is open to residents who need immediate shelter.