Sewer backups and flooding | Mayors denounce the limits of government aid for Debby victims

Mayors of cities in the Montreal region are denouncing the fact that a tiny minority of victims flooded on August 9, during the passage of storm Debby, will be able to receive compensation from the Quebec government’s aid program.

Although Premier François Legault said while visiting flooded areas last week that the government was considering expanding its compensation program, the guidelines sent to affected cities on Thursday exclude all claims caused by sewer backups, unless they result from an overflowing watercourse.

However, the vast majority of the damage occurred in areas far from waterways, where torrential rains transformed streets into rivers, causing the contents of sewers to flow back into basements. This is particularly the case in Montreal and Laval.

“The Prime Minister had said that he would be flexible in helping disaster victims, but the information we have received, there is nothing flexible in that,” protested the mayor of Mascouche, Guillaume Tremblay, acting as spokesperson for the 82 cities of the Communauté métropolitaine de Montréal (CMM).

In his municipality, for example, he estimates that around 1,500 owners were flooded, but only a hundred were affected by the overflowing of the Mascouche River and could be compensated by Quebec.

Do not replace the private

The government explains that private insurers already cover the risks associated with sewer backups.

But many households are not insured for such a disaster, argues Guillaume Tremblay. And those that are have a limit to their coverage, often between $10,000 and $30,000, which is well below the bill for demolishing a basement and rebuilding it.

Last Friday, Prime Minister Legault also stated that disaster victims should first contact their insurer to claim “the maximum,” adding that the government was studying the possibility of covering the remaining costs.

“Why did the Prime Minister say that? Why did he give us a glimmer of hope and then back down?” laments Fatima*, a Laval resident whose basement was submerged under a metre of water. The $25,000 reimbursement from her insurance will barely cover the replacement of damaged property, while the basement needs to be completely redone.

Hard tomorrows

In a letter sent Monday to Minister Bonnardel, the mayor of Mascouche highlighted the cases of citizens of his city for whom the flood had devastating consequences.

“Mr. Bélanger, 85, lives alone in a house where the air remains unbreathable, unable to empty his flooded basement. Émilie and her two children, tenants in a submerged basement, find themselves homeless as the start of the school year approaches. Yasmine, who had just moved into her new corner of paradise, sees her dream transformed into a nightmare, her home buried under water,” he wrote.

“How can they rebuild their lives? The solutions are precarious: selling at a discount, moving… In the current context of housing shortage, these options are unsustainable for many. Are our government compensation programs really adapted to the situation?”

Climate change

“What we have experienced will come back,” warns the director of ecological transition at the CMM, Nicolas Milot.

Quebec is likely to be hit more frequently by the remnants of hurricanes that originated further south, since these storms are increasingly moving north, he explains. We are also seeing more violent storms, which are localized and cause significant accumulations of water in a short period of time, the expert adds.

“The government aid program was designed around rivers that flood in the spring,” he notes, and may no longer be relevant to reality.

It is the population that will pay the price for climate change, because insurers risk stopping covering these claims, or they will drastically increase their premiums and deductibles, observes Mr. Milot.

*Our contact requested anonymity to protect her personal information.

Lake overflow

Jérôme Fournier and his partner Élodie are preparing to see their Saint-Lin–Laurentides home fall under the demolition workers’ pickaxe: the bungalow, whose foundations have collapsed, is uninhabitable. Still in shock, they expect to be compensated by the government’s disaster assistance program, since it was the overflow of an artificial lake that caused the flooding of their property on August 9. “We have received confirmation from public safety, but we are waiting to find out how much we could receive,” explains Mr. Fournier.

Retention basin

Nicolas Gagné was insured against sewer backups up to $30,000. But that sum will be largely insufficient to cover the costs of cleaning and rebuilding the basement of his Laval home. He therefore hopes to assert the fact that a nearby water retention basin had overflowed and caused his home to flood. “A city inspector explained to me that it was this basin that had overflowed onto the surrounding streets,” he says, without knowing whether this development will be considered a watercourse. Father of a newborn and a two-year-old child, Mr. Gagné is otherwise considering remortgaging his house.

Distress and despair

Valérie Saint-Pierre was hopeful when she heard Premier François Legault say the government’s aid program could be expanded. She was bitterly disappointed to learn that sewer backups like the one she experienced in her Laval home wouldn’t be covered. Nor would those of her neighbours. “I see a lot of distress around me. People are desperate, neighbours are unable to work,” she says. She will likely have to settle for the $20,000 reimbursement her insurer is expected to pay her, even though the repair work will cost much more.