The City of Châteauguay launched its emergency measures plan on Thursday following heavy freezing rain the day before which deprived no less than 16,000 homes of electricity. The basement of at least 200 houses is said to be flooded and there are fears for another 10,000 while half of the pumping stations are no longer supplied by the electricity network.
On Thursday, the Châteauguay network was no longer sufficient for the task, when 20 of the municipality’s 44 pumping stations were no longer supplied by the electricity network, but by generators.
The city had received at least 200 calls from residents whose basements had flooded, and estimated that around 10,000 could also suffer the same fate. “It’s very, very disturbing,” said the city’s mayor, Éric Allard.
Rue Sainte-Foy, firefighters were busy pumping water from a few residences. During the night from Wednesday to Thursday, the Langlois-Azémar family had been busy trying to limit the damage while the water level rose in the basement of the family residence, located a stone’s throw from the river. Chateauguay.
In complete darkness, the Jamal and Khalid brothers had spent a good part of the night emptying the contents of their rooms located in the basement in an attempt to save as many objects as possible. The beds are “fucked”, they nevertheless observed.
Like their mother, they took things philosophically. “There’s nothing you can do, it’s like an adventure,” said Judith Langlois.
Thanks to its emergency measures plan, the City will be able to spend more money than usual to order new generators and additional portable pumps to relieve its sewer network and supply electricity emergency at its pumping stations.
“It’s going to be quite expensive, but we have to be able to make those expenses quickly. That’s why we declared a state of emergency,” said Éric Allard. A shelter was notably opened for the victims and at the passage of La Presse, Thursday, about fifty residents had gone there, mainly to warm up and recharge their electronic devices.
Premier François Legault said Thursday that the government will “monitor the situation closely” in Châteauguay, a meeting having already been held with Hydro-Québec teams on this subject. “At this point, it will have to be adjusted according to each city,” he said.
