Environment Canada has issued a special weather statement warning of several consecutive rainy days to come. Along with rising water levels and melting snow, the forecasted rain means Greater Montreal is now bracing for a possible repeat of the devastating 2017 floods.
According to Environment Canada, “25 to 50 millimetres of rain” could fall Friday and Saturday.
Already, water levels on the Outaouais, Rigaud, des Prairies and Mille-Îles rivers are high; the Mille-Îsles has already begun to overflow. There are also concerns about Deux-Montagnes Lake.
Some Laval streets have already begun to flood, Radio-Canada reports. The city has begun distributing sandbags, but over 800 houses may be affected by flooding. Residents are already being asked to cut off electricity and remove possessions from their basements. On the island of Montreal, police and firefighters are also visiting residents of Pierrefonds-Roxboro, Ahuntsic-Cartierville, Île-Bizard–Sainte-Geneviève, Senneville and Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue.
Everyone is on high alert, and anxiously waiting to see how much rain will fall, and where – a wild card that could tip the scales from minor inconvenience to disaster.