Flooding in parts of the West Island has become a nearly annual occurrence. Now, residents — 1,500 and counting — are fighting back.
Two proposed class-action lawsuits are taking aim at the cities of Montreal and Dollard-des-Ormeaux. The lawsuits allege the municipalities were “grossly negligent” in preparing for last month’s flash floods that left drainage systems overwhelmed and basements ruined.
“You’ve already seen what happens, and you still failed to act. I think we’ve gone further than just negligence,” said Jeff Orenstein, the Consumer Law Group lawyer behind the class actions.
“ They say lightning never strikes twice in the same place. That would be an act of God. But I’ve got news for you. We just saw it strike twice in the same place, 2024 and again in 2026.”
Orenstein and Paul Henry Danylewich, president of the Association of the Citizens of Dollard, joined hosts Bill Brownstein and Aaron Rand on this week’s episode of The Corner Booth at the Snowdon Deli to talk about how government inaction has spurred this fight.
“There is nobody stepping up to get involved,” says Paul Henry Danylewich, left, president of the Association of the Citizens of Dollard, seated beside lawyer Jeff Orenstein. Dave Sidaway / Montreal Gazette
“The citizens feel abandoned on the municipal, provincial and the federal level. There is nobody stepping up to get involved,” Danylewich said.
“ I don’t know why they didn’t call a state of emergency. I don’t know why they didn’t reach out to the province and say, ‘Hey, we need help.’
“ We’re going on three weeks and there’s still garbage in front of some of the homes. That’s not OK.”
Both guests had their homes affected by the flooding. Orenstein said demolition and sanitation of his basement, which was flooded with four to five feet of water, has already cost $22,500.
And while both want the cities held accountable for damages already incurred, there’s also a fear about the future in an area where quick rainfalls (as much as 170 mm of rain fell on June 20) have become the norm.
“Storms are not the same as they were in 1988,” says lawyer Jeff Orenstein, right, seated beside Paul Henry Danylewich, president of the Association of the Citizens of Dollard. Dave Sidaway / Montreal Gazette
”Storms are not the same as they were in 1988. When you had a flood in 1988, it was the entire city that was covered,” Orenstein said. “Now what we have is where you get an area that gets hit rapidly, like what happened here.”
Danylewich added: “Another concern that I had from the D.D.O. council meeting was that the mayor mentioned that rescue resources are finite. We only have a certain amount of resources that we can put out in a catastrophe, and that’s unacceptable.
“ The message I got from that meeting is that if we have a really big problem, we’re out of luck.”
The Corner Booth is also available on The Gazette’s YouTube channel, Apple Podcasts and on Spotify.