Rain, spring thaw triggers flooding in Quebec
Waterways in Eastern Townships, Beauce and Quebec City regions have spilled their banks
Rain and warm weather has led to flooding in some areas of Quebec and has authorities closely monitoring water levels across the province.
The Public Security Ministry's website shows 24 areas where minor or medium-level flooding is occurring, mainly in the Eastern Townships, the Beauce and Quebec City.
In Weedon, about 200 kilometres east of Montreal, 500 homes on streets threatened by water levels received precautionary evacuation notices on Sunday.
Mayor Richard Tanguay said about 12 people are staying at a city-run emergency centre that has been opened.
In Lévis, south of Quebec City, residents of Oscar-Carrier, Marcel-Roussel and de la Boucle streets were being asked to leave their homes Monday morning as a precaution.
Gaétan Drouin, with the Lévis fire service, said Monday morning that 30-some properties had been evacuated as a precaution around 5 a.m., and a dozen people were taken in by the Red Cross.
"Unfortunately, the weather forecast doesn't help us much. We are expecting more rain," said Drouin.
He said the rapid water level increase had stopped, leaving authorities hopeful about getting the situation under control later in the day. However, he didn't rule out the possibility of more evacuations.
Drouin said Lévis had invested in infrastructure over the past couple years and has four cameras monitoring water levels at various key locations.
Lac Louise in the Eastern Townships, the Famine and Chaudière rivers in the Beauce and the Rivière Saint-Charles in Quebec City are already flooding, and water levels are expected to rise there.
Closer to Montreal, some streets in the western part of Laval and in Terrebonne are also seeing minor flooding as water from the Mille Îles River spills its banks.
The Lake of Two Mountains near Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue is under surveillance.
The rain and snow melt have already led to flooding in some homes and forced some evacuations in the Beauce and the Gaspé.
"With all the rain that we got since Friday, the land is saturated, so the water is directly going to the river," said Thomas Blanchet, the spokesperson for Quebec's Public Security Ministry.
Blanchet said rivers are flooding later this year because cooler weather into the spring allowed much of the snow to melt or evaporate.
With files from Radio-Canada