Extreme Flooding Affecting Southeastern Canada

Flood evacuations in Sainte-Marie, Quebec. Photo
by Jacques Boissnot

Here in Vermont, officials are sorting it out with FEMA on the matter of getting federal assistance for at least $2 million in flood damage from a mid-April storm that brought snow melt and high water to much of the state.

Lake Champlain continues to flood, hovering just under 101 feet above sea level. That's very nearly a foot above flood stage. With more rain in the forecast, the Lake Champlain flooding won't go away any time soon. 

North of the border, though, things are much worse, much more dire. Severe flooding is wrecking communities near Ontario, in much of Quebec, including the Montreal metro area and in New Brunswick.

Here's just one sample, as reported by CBC:

"The most dire situation is in Sainte-Marthe-sur-le-Lac, a suburb west of Montreal that was inundated Saturday night after the Lake of Two Mountains burst through a natural dike.

More than 5,000 residents were forced to grab what they could and flee as waist-high water filled their streets and homes. Another 1,500 people were evacuated from their homes the following day."

At least 9,000 people in Quebec have been evacuated from their homes due to the flooding.

The Ottawa River between Quebec and Ontario is nearing a record high level set just two years ago. People have filled more than a million sandbags to protect neighborhoods in Ottawa and Gatineau, Quebec. Still, some neighborhoods in both communities are under water.

Gatineau has had terrible experiences with weather lately. Last September, a rare, strong tornado swept through Gatineau, injuring six people and damaging or destroying nearly 1,700 homes.

CBC also had this interesting factoid about weather extremes in Canada so far in 2019:

"The record flooding is expected to push losses for Canadian homeowners from extreme weather to more than $1 billion just four months into this year. The figure was close to $2 billion for all of 2018."

Though floodwaters are receding a bit from flooding along the St. Johns River in New Brunswick, more rain is forecast in saturated southeastern Canada this week.