Rainfall is expected in Quebec in the coming days and bodies of water are subject to continuous monitoring by Public Security due to the risk of flooding.
In Montreal, the sectors located along the Lac des Deux Montagnes and the Rivière des Prairies present a high risk of flooding.
The municipal authorities took stock Monday morning, explaining that the melting of the snow caused by the recent heat and the rains expected over the next few days justify the alert of the civil security services of the City.
“Alert mode” means that “the boroughs, related cities and the emergency measures center are in coordination to start preparing and activating people on the ground in the event that the floods arrive in the coming days”, explained the division chief of the Montreal Fire Department, Martin Guilbault.
“Citizens are asked to prepare, the citizen’s responsibility is to organize themselves to protect their home”.
Prepare an emergency kit
Martin Guilbault advises citizens who live in areas that present a high risk of flooding to prepare an emergency kit, to meet “the needs of the family for at least three days”.
This kit should include drinking water, non-perishable food, a battery-operated radio, a flashlight, candles, matches, a first aid kit and a whistle to be heard by the rescue teams.
According to the division chief of the Montreal Fire Department, the risk of flooding is at its highest level since 2019.
That year, a catastrophic combination of heavy rains following a snowy winter and cold temperatures that had kept the snow cover intact until then forced the evacuation of thousands of people across several regions of Quebec. .
But the spokesperson for civil security Marie-Soleil Boulet-Pruneau wants to be reassuring and does not fear, for the moment, major flooding.
“We always remember the major floods of 2017 and 2019, but for the moment, this is not what is apprehended. »
She explained that the Department of Public Security monitors waterways “territorially.”
The Laurentians, Lanaudière and Outaouais regions “attract our attention more and, to a lesser extent, the national capital,” said Marie-Soleil Boulet-Pruneau, adding that cooler temperatures expected in certain sectors could slow down snowmelt.
“Temperatures are on a downward trend over the next few days […] so it could decrease the melting of the snow, if the temperatures are down, it should be rather stable”.