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<\/p>\nEva Szymkowiak was among the Montrealers starting\u00a0the week dealing with the aftermath of a storm that dumped more than 70 millimetres of rain over the city in just a few hours.\u00a0<\/p>\n
For the second time in just under a year, the\u00a0longtime resident of Montreal’s Saint-Laurent borough, says her building’s parking garage\u00a0on Thimens Street was completely flooded.<\/p>\n
Last year, she says\u00a0both their vehicles were ruined in a flood. But on Sunday, Szymkowiak says\u00a0they saw the water accumulating from the storm and she luckily had time to\u00a0move her car and warn others in the building.\u00a0<\/p>\n
One neighbour described seeing the manhole covers on the street being blown off and the water making its way into the building through the indoor garage.\u00a0“Somehow this street doesn’t absorb […] huge amounts of water,” Szymkowiak\u00a0said.<\/p>\n
Szymkowiak\u00a0and her neighbour are hoping the city steps up to fix the problem. Faced with repeated flooding across multiple boroughs,\u00a0officials\u00a0are attempting to find long-term solutions \u2014 some even introducing bylaws designed to mitigate flood risk and exposure.\u00a0<\/p>\n
‘Every neighbourhood, every street is different,’ says mayor<\/p>\n
Montreal Mayor Val\u00e9rie Plante visited those impacted by flooding in the city’s Ahuntsic-Cartierville borough on Monday.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“There isn’t a unique solution for the entire territory,” she said.\u00a0“Every neighbourhood, every street is different.”<\/p>\n
WATCH | The help you can get after your home is flooded:\u00a0<\/p>\n
Dealing with flood damage? These financial assistance programs could help<\/p>\n
If your home was flooded, you may be eligible for certain municipal and provincial programs that can help you repair the damage.<\/p>\n
She pointed to various initiatives being carried out by the city to reduce the impact of flooding, including overhauling the sewer infrastructure in high-priority areas and building green infrastructure, such as\u00a0sponge parks and retention basins.<\/p>\n
Maja Vodanovic, the executive committee member responsible for water, said several criteria help determine which areas are high priority, including the number of people affected in an area, whether it’s in a low-lying area or prone to flooding.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Overhauling sewage network not the solution, says expert<\/p>\n
Jean-Luc Martel, a professor in the construction and engineering department at the \u00c9cole de technologie sup\u00e9rieur in Montreal, said there is often a lot of emphasis placed on the need to redo the sewer network.<\/p>\n
But retrofitting the sewage network as a whole would be expensive, he says. In some cases,\u00a0putting in bigger pipes would just displace the problem by moving the water downstream.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
“It’s not a question of the size and the capacity of the sewer network. They’re not designed to deal with those events,” said Martel.\u00a0“That’s not [its] job.”<\/p>\n
To mitigate flooding, boroughs\u00a0have to look at what’s happening at the surface, says Martel, and reduce the amount of runoff making its way into storm sewers to avoid overwhelming the network.<\/p>\n
Green infrastructure can help. He says homeowners can also do their part by having rain gardens and disconnecting gutters to allow the water to be absorbed by the lawn.<\/p>\n
Ultimately, though, Martel says the main issue are basements.<\/p>\n
“We need to really question ourselves as a society. Do we need basements?” said Martel.<\/p>\n
“After the sewer is full, the water stays on the surface and then it goes with gravity.\u00a0It goes to the lowest point,” he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Mitigating\u00a0flood risk and exposure\u00a0<\/p>\n
With the intensity and frequency of extreme rain set to increase, the City of Montreal says it wants to make it easier for homeowners to make changes to create a more resilient home.<\/p>\n
That can include using waterproof materials like ceramic tiles in flood-prone basements, or installing watertight garage doors, says Maja\u00a0Vodanovic,\u00a0the executive committee member.<\/p>\n
“We want to make it more simpler for those kind of projects to go through. We are working on changing our regulations to streamline those projects,” Vodanovic\u00a0said.<\/p>\n
Regardless of the neighbourhood, or borough, the city of Montreal said its R\u00e9noPlex program, for buildings with one to five dwellings, provides financial assistance to homeowners for renovations or flood protection work on their property.<\/p>\n
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