Southern Quebec cities overwhelmed by waste after torrential rains flooded basements

Chloé Poulin discovered at least eight inches of water in her Laval, Que., basement after the remnants of tropical storm Debby hit Quebec earlier this month.

"The water came in through the garage," she said. "We saw it coming in and we couldn't do anything."

Though she was able to save some furnishings and other belongings, the flooring and walls were a total loss. With her husband, they began demolition right away, piling the wall debris in front of their home.

Their neighbours also piled trash in front of their own homes. The following Monday, the city conducted a pick-up operation, with trucks rolling through neighbourhoods to cart away the garbage. Another pickup is planned for the end of the week.

"The help from the city was very appreciated," said Poulin, adding it's usually the responsibility of property owners to manage their own construction debris.

She would rely on a construction company to do the work and truck away the trash, but all companies are booked solid, she said.

Philippe Déry, City of Laval spokesperson, said a team of 250 municipal workers was called in to help with the bulky waste pickup.

"This collection operation of a scale never seen before in the history of the city requires exceptional mobilization and planning efforts as well as constant co-ordination," he said.

"For each affected residence, it is estimated that the equivalent of almost a year's worth of garbage must be collected and this is what our teams managed to do."

6,000 tonnes collected

Some 6,000 tonnes of debris was collected in Laval, but the city says it's clear citizens still need help. So a second special bulky waste pickup day has been planned.

After that, there are options such as dropping debris off at the local ecocentre that is operating at an increased capacity, Déry said. In addition, some insurance coverage also includes the temporary rental of a trash container, he noted.

Laval Mayor Stéphane Boyer said it's difficult to answer everyone's needs in an emergency situation, with some complaining it took too long for the initial pickup and others are complaining that, even after three weeks, there hasn't been enough time to prepare for the second pickup.

Meanwhile, he added, employees who are removing the bulky items are not doing their regular tasks. 

"We've put several jobs across the city on hold — park maintenance, street sweeping and many other things that employees were normally assigned to do," said Boyer. "Employees will need to get back to their normal tasks, especially with winter approaching."

Salaberry-de-Valleyfield using snow dump to store trash

Laval isn't the only city working to help citizens clean up after the flooding.

In Terrebonne, Mascouche and other communities in the greater Montreal region, city crews have also hauled away tonnes of debris. 

Salaberry-de-Valleyfield, west of Montreal, is using a snow-dump site to temporarily stash the trash. Mayor Miguel Lemieux said the amount of garbage collected there is unprecedented.

"The equivalent of easily more than six months of waste. And we still have a lot more to collect," said Lemieux.

He said using a snow dump is far from optimal as it's not designed for that, but there are no other options. The plan is to eventually transfer the waste, but during that time it needs to be secured. 

The ecocentre has been filling up, and residents are renting their own trash containers. The city has offered a special collection and regular collections.

"It's a completely new challenge. So we'll try in a few weeks to collect what we collect," said Lemieux.