The Metropolitan Community of Montreal (CMM) is asking the Quebec government to implement new measures to adapt to climate change, as well as to adjust the General Disaster Financial Assistance Program (PGAF).
At the end of the Metropolitan Forum on flooding by urban runoff on Friday, elected officials from the CMM, which brings together 82 municipalities, presented three requests to the Quebec government.
“We must improve emergency measures plans” and “support the renovation of residences to make them more resilient”, in addition to increasing “the compensation offered to owners by adjusting the general financial assistance program during disasters », summarized Nicolas Milot, director of ecological transition and innovation at the CMM.
Improve emergency measures plans
Supporting citizens during crises, such as the one that occurred during the passage of the storm Debby“requires resources” that municipalities do not have, argued Nicolas Milot, in an interview with The Canadian Press.
At the beginning of August, Debby caused precipitation of more than 150 mm of water in the region in half a day, and even more than 180 mm in the north of the metropolitan region.
After the passage of this storm, “the management of residual materials after the disaster caused a lot of problems in certain municipalities” due, in particular, to the exceptional “quantities of debris”, Nicolas Milot gave as an example to justify the need for ” improve emergency measures plans.”
Making residences more resilient
The CMM would like Quebec to support the renovation of residences to make them more resilient and less vulnerable to the risks of urban runoff.
“There are several things that we can put forward to ensure that residences are less vulnerable and above all that the damage that would be caused by possible backflows is less great,” maintains Nicolas Milot.
The director of ecological transition and Innovation at the CMM explains “that currently, when a citizen receives an amount from his insurance company, there is a very good chance that he will rebuild in an identical way, therefore with the same materials put in the same places. »
However, he added, “if he re-experiences the same disaster later, he will undoubtedly have identical damage, or even […] bigger”.
To remedy this type of situation, “there are ways to develop the built environment, particularly the basements, which would make the residence more resilient and less damage during events that occur. will produce in the future.
Expand post-disaster financial assistance
The Montreal Metropolitan Community criticizes the Quebec government for not having made any of the changes to its compensation program announced following the flooding caused by the storm Debby.
The rules of the General Disaster Financial Assistance Program (PGAF) indicate that a “disaster will be eligible for the program if water enters the residence through sewer backup or infiltration following a flood.”
On the other hand, “if the flooding is caused by a sewer backup or water infiltration without overflowing from a nearby watercourse, the loss will not be covered by the PGAF”.
The CMM requests that all victims of sewer backup, even those who live far from a watercourse, be included in the PGAF when there are floods as was the case after the storm Debby.
“The government was talking about expanding public compensation which is not available in the current state of the program. But as we ultimately saw, there was no expansion of the national compensation program in the event of a disaster,” lamented Nicola Milot.
According to a press release published by the CMM, these three measures must “be part of a government vision for flood risk management” which must be included in the Territorial Protection Plan against Floods adopted in 2020.
“Cities are already adapting their underground networks and surfaces, but it is just as much a priority for the government to improve support measures and aid programs. The regulatory framework must offer more flexibility to reconcile the objectives of flood risk management with the different realities of the metropolitan territory and the needs of the population,” declared, in a press release, Mayor Valérie Plante, who is also president of the Metropolitan Community of Montreal.