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Hudson resident Jim Soter is surrounded by water after flood waters breached his property.
Areas brace for floods
Water could rise with temperatures
ALYCIA AMBROZIAK AND JAMES MENNIE
The Gazette
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
Hudson resident Jim Soter is surrounded by water after flood waters breached his property.
Montreal-area neighbourhoods that enjoy a riverfront view are bracing to pay the price exacted by nature for that landscape every spring.
But while water levels across the province are being monitored by civil protection authorities, those authorities are also keeping an eye on the thermometer.
"Actually, things are stable right now because of the cold temperatures we had on the weekend," Laval spokesperson Amélie Cliche said. "But we're looking at 20 degrees (Celsius) by the end of this week, so we're asking the population to be prepared and call our 3-1-1 number (if they encounter flooding)."
Residents on Laval's western shore have been on flood alert for the past week.
While no major flooding is evident, Montreal officials say they are expecting the situation to worsen once rising temperatures hasten the thaw, and are urging residents to call the city's 3-1-1 service should water levels become dangerously high.
In the West Island and further west, lake and riverside residents are maintaining a 24-hour flood watch.
Jim Soter's pretty blue house on the shores of the Ottawa River in Hudson is already surrounded by water.
"It could be worse - and it probably will get worse; the forecast is for warm weather and there's still a lot of snow left to melt from up north," Soter said yesterday as he stood on dry land about six metres from his Rousseau St. home - which can only be reached with any measure of dryness by wading through water in rubber boots.
Soter has placed his canoe on wooden ramps leading from his deck. "The canoe is just to play it safe in case the water rises a lot more," said Soter, a retiree. The water in his basement is now chest-high, and two feet high at the end of his driveway.
Civil protection authorities reported about 60 homes in Oka, west of Montreal, were threatened by the rising waters of Lake of Two Mountains.
In Boisbriand, north of Montreal, at least one road was washed out, while 74 residences in Maskinongé in the Mauricie region were also cut off by rising waters.