Large part of Sainte-Marthe-sur-le-Lac considered at high risk of flooding in new maps
More than 5,000 residents evacuated the town during spring flooding
Municipalities in and around Montreal adopted new flood plain maps Thursday — putting many homeowners in high risk zones.
One of the areas seeing the biggest change is Sainte-Marthe-sur-le-Lac, where flooding in April caused the evacuation of thousands of residents.
Two months ago, the natural dike built to keep back the Lake of Two Mountains was breached by water and a third of the town was flooded.
According to the Montreal Metropolitan Community (CMM) maps, an earth dike like the one protecting Sainte-Marthe-sur-le-Lac from flooding, is no longer taken into account.
"The dike is protection but even if it's there, you always have to plan just in case," said Suzy Peate, the executive coordinator for planning at CMM.
"People need to be aware that they are behind the dike, but also it's a flood plain if there is no dike."
This spring's historic flooding hit more than 100 Quebec municipalities, damaging more than 7,000 homes.
The catastrophic events lent new urgency to creating and releasing a complete, up-to-date flood risk portrait of the Hochelaga archipelago — the islands at the confluence of the St. Lawrence and Ottawa rivers, which include Montreal.
The province has 60 days to approve the maps.