With heavy rains persisting and waters still rising over much of waterlogged eastern Canada, the nation’s military on Sunday tripled the number of troops urgently working to evacuate thousands of residents.
Montreal Mayor Denis Coderre declared a state of emergency for his city, allowing authorities to order mandatory evacuations from threatened areas.
“The next 48 hours will be decisive,” Coderre told reporters.
Photo: Reuters
Evacuations were ordered in Pierrefonds, on the northwestern shore of the island of Montreal, after three temporary dikes ruptured, sending water levels surging.
A combination of torrential rains and runoff from melting snow has caused rivers to overflow their banks from Ottawa to Montreal, posing critical challenges for people already exhausted by weeks of seemingly unending rainfall.
More than 1,000 people have been evacuated in Quebec Province, the largest number coming from Gatineau, near Ottawa, the province’s emergency response unit said on Sunday.
Photo: Reuters / Prime Minister’s Office
More than 2,000 homes have been flooded and 140 towns and cities affected, with authorities urging residents to evacuate before it is too late.
In addition to Montreal, eight localities have declared states of emergency.
However, Quebec Premier Philippe Couillard warned the worst was yet to come.
“The water will continue rising over the next two or three days,” he said on Saturday after visiting the town of Rigaud, west of Montreal, which has been flooded for more than a week.
Water levels were rising across much of an area of about 500km, from Toronto and Lake Ontario and stretching downstream along the St Lawrence River.
The Canadian Ministry of Public Safety said waters were expected to crest yesterday in Quebec Province.
About 450 troops had been dispatched by Saturday to help put sandbags in place and assist with evacuations, but that number was set to triple by the end of Sunday, including 500 in the immediate Montreal region, 400 in the area between Gatineau and Rigaud to the west, and more than 500 in the Trois-Rivieres region northeast of Montreal, Lieutenant Colonel Pascal Larose said.
Their tasks included evacuating residents, reinforcing dikes and protecting critical infrastructure such as water treatment plants and bridges, the Canadian Ministry of Defense said.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Sunday visited Terrasse-Vaudreuil, about 40km west of Montreal, to survey damage, a spokesman said.
Environment Canada warned that “the ground, already near saturation, has little ability to absorb further rainfall… Even shallow, fast-moving water across a road can sweep a vehicle or a person away. Don’t approach washouts near rivers, creeks and culverts.”
Pierrefonds resident Robert Robillard had yet to evacuate by Sunday, despite the 10cm to 15cm of water in his basement.
“I haven’t seen anything like this since 1974,” he said, adding that the area now is much more crowded and thus vulnerable.
Rigaud Mayor Hans Gruenwald ordered the mandatory evacuation of some 100 homes.
After three weeks of flooding, “our people no longer have the physical capacity or the morale, so I took the initiative to evacuate them,” he told the LCN network.
School gymnasiums and other public buildings throughout the area have opened their doors to evacuees.
“I understand people are reluctant to leave their homes,” Couillard said, “but if you’re asked, do it for your own safety.”
Meanwhile, in British Columbia, the same combination of rain and snowmelt has caused flooding and mudslides that left at least two people missing, including the fire chief of Cache Creek village, who had been out checking water levels.
A 76-year-old man was missing after a mudslide on Saturday swept away his home in the community of Tappen, the Canadian Broadcasting Corp reported.
“It sounded like a freight train coming down the mountain,” Tappen-Sunnybrae Fire Department Chief Kyle Schneider told the national broadcaster.
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
A top Vietnamese property tycoon was on Thursday sentenced to death in one of the biggest corruption cases in history, with an estimated US$27 billion in damages. A panel of three hand-picked jurors and two judges rejected all defense arguments by Truong My Lan, chair of major developer Van Thinh Phat, who was found guilty of swindling cash from Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB) over a decade. “The defendant’s actions ... eroded people’s trust in the leadership of the [Communist] Party and state,” read the verdict at the trial in Ho Chi Minh City. After the five-week trial, 85 others were also sentenced on
‘DELUSIONAL’: Targeting the families of Hamas’ leaders would not push the group to change its position or to give up its demands for Palestinians, Ismail Haniyeh said Israeli aircraft on Wednesday killed three sons of Hamas’ top political leader in the Gaza Strip, striking high-stakes targets at a time when Israel is holding delicate ceasefire negotiations with the militant group. Hamas said four of the leader’s grandchildren were also killed. Ismail Haniyeh’s sons are among the highest-profile figures to be killed in the war so far. Israel said they were Hamas operatives, and Haniyeh accused Israel of acting in “the spirit of revenge and murder.” The deaths threatened to strain the internationally mediated ceasefire talks, which appeared to gain steam in recent days even as the sides remain far
RAMPAGE: A Palestinian man was left dead after dozens of Israeli settlers searching for a missing 14-year-old boy stormed a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed. Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden simply said: “Don’t,” underscoring Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later.” Israel braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of