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Jim Soter’s house in Hudson is surrounded by rising flood waters, but he still enjoys living by water. (GRAHAM HUGHES)
Sinking feelign setting in
Flooding expected to get worse
Alycia Ambroziak
The Gazette
Thursday, April 17, 2008
Jim Soter’s house in Hudson is surrounded by rising flood waters, but he still enjoys living by water. (GRAHAM HUGHES)
With a forecast that could see temperatures rise to close to 20 degrees Celcius this week, many lakeshore and riverside residents are keeping a wary lookout for rising waters.
Jim Soter is no exception.
“The water went down by about three inches last night,” The Hudson resident said yesterday. “But that is only temporary.”
Soter’s Rousseau St. home, in a low-lying area, was surrounded by water earlier this week.
“That just means the run-off from the fields is over. Once the melt begins up north and starts to flow down, and with warmer temperatures on the horizon, it’s a sure thing that the water here will rise even further.”
Environment Canada forecast yesterday called for sunny skies and a high of 19C today, 18C tomorrow, 13C on Saturday and 15C Sunday.
According to Marc Lavallé, a spokesman for the Quebec civil security department, Soter’s prediction has a good chance of becoming reality.
“There are many factors that could change things, but the potential is there for the waters to rise as high as they did in 1998, when about 500 buildings, including homes, in the Montreal, Montéregie and Laval areas were hit with flooding.”
For Soter, however, living through some flooding every few years is not enough of an inconvenience to make him want to leave his home which hugs the shores of the Ottawa River.
“It’s very beautiful,” he said.
Pierre Savaria, who lives next door, agrees.
“We chose to live by the water because we love it,” Savaria said. “So I don’t panic when the waters rise.”
Savaria might not panic, but he is getting ready for flooding. Although the water has not reached his house, he has two sump pumps in his basement and has placed sandbags along his downward slanting driveway which did flood about 10 years ago.
“That was the only time we had serious flooding. If it hadn’t been for the water that came rushing down the driveway into the basement, we would have been all right,” Savaria said.
“This year, we are like the Boy Scouts – well prepared,” he said, adding that he is hoping the sandbags along his driveway will keep the water away.
In the West Island, Ste. Geneviève residents Jean-Francois Dubreuil and his wife, Catherine Vandal, were emptying out the basement of their heritage home Monday morning as the water in their basement reached the six-inch level.
“We hope the worst is over but we’re not counting on it,” Dubreuil said from the Maison Montpellier dit Beaulieu, which was built in 1875 on the shores of Rivière des Prairies. “Our foundation is now lower than the water level and that hasn’t happened since 1973. We’re hoping it won’t go much higher.”
Their neighbour, Samuel Bernard, whose house is for sale, was not as hopeful.
“This house has been in my wife’s family since the 1950s, and we know from experience that we are at a critical stage: the level of the water as it is now usually occurs in May after the snow from the Laurentians melts and makes its way down here,” he said.
“But we’re still waiting for those northern waters to melt, and once it does, that means the water could rise another four feet.”
In Pierrefonds/Roxboro, Caroline Morsink said that even though her backyard has been somewhat inundated, she’s hoping that the sump pump – “which has been going every 15 minutes” – will be enough to keep the water away from her home which was built high up from the shoreline.
aambroziak@thegazette.canwest.com