'I'm feeling rage': Flood victims irate with civil security response

Stéphane Caron has spent the last few weeks trying to save his house in Rigaud, Que., from flooding — and he feels he was alone in the fight.

"Rage, rage. I'm feeling rage."

Caron said only local police officers checked in to see how he was doing.

"No one else. No one. The firefighters called me Thursday to say, 'We are not coming to your house,' and on Friday I was told that no one from the army would come to help me with sandbags."

Rigaud declared a state of emergency on Sunday, for the second time since April 20.  On Monday, the municipality issued the order to evacuate three neighbourhoods — including Caron's.

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Being forced to leave has only made him angrier.

"[It's] hurtful, really hurtful. I'm going to lose my f--king house. I have no f--king respect for the mayor," Caron said.

On Monday, Rigaud Mayor Hans Gruenwald Jr. said there was no choice but to issue an evacuation order.

"It's been since April 20 that we have been trying to convince people to come out and let us take charge and protect them. But now finally we are at a point where, three weeks later, it has to happen," Gruenwald said.

Sleepless week

Tania Caro, who lives in Montreal's West Island, also had to leave her flooded home.

She said help should have come sooner.

"We never got our sandbags which we had asked for all week long," she said. "But the city, the province and the federal government say they are doing all they can."

Raymond Stelmashuk spent a sleepless week filling 600 sandbags to try to save his 93-year-old grandmother's house in the Montreal borough of Pierrefonds-Roxboro. The house was built by his late grandfather out of a fishing shack.

It was all in vain.

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"There's not a city person around, nobody's around. They keep coming and going, but they're not helping anybody."

He said that last week, six borough employees came by in a pickup truck with a single pallet of sand.

"They didn't want to get their feet wet, so they asked where to put it as close as possible to their truck, which is ridiculous. People aren't sleeping, people are losing everything and they're worried about getting their feet wet."

When I asked for help, I was told, 'No, you're not flooded yet.' If I wait until I'm flooded, what do I need you for?- Flood victim Ali Pazouki

Ali Pazouki lives nearby. He has been trying to build a wall of sandbags for days now to keep the water out of his home.

He told CBC that no one helped him.

"If you [ask me did anybody] help? City people, army people, police sitting in their car and came to say hi? Not even one person. When I asked for help, I was told, 'No, you're not flooded yet.' If I wait until I'm flooded, what do I need you for?"

Pazouki said the ones doing all the heavy lifting are neighbours and volunteers.

"I'll tell you one thing: the only one who helped me on this was the people, the neighbours, people from school  — the Canadian people."

In a hotel room in Dorval, in Montreal's West Island, families from 5th Avenue in Pierrefonds gathered Monday to discuss government inaction on their street.

The families, who are now being helped by the Red Cross, were forced out of their homes over the weekend. Their street has seen significant flooding, but they say despite repeated calls to the borough, sandbags never came.

"We tried to ask for help, we were desperate for sandbags," said Nick Cai. "Unfortunately all the help came just too late."

They're hoping for provincial or municipal compensation for their losses.

"I hope this becomes more cohesive, so that we can really lobby together and do whatever we have to do together," said evacuee Antonia Sealy.