Dramatic scenes of flooding in Quebec and beyond

Heavy rains for the past several days, combined with melted snow, have caused disruption for families and businesses in Canadian locations including eastern Ontario and western Quebec, the West Island in Montreal and parts of New Brunswick.

Forced from homes.

Members of a family are helped with some belongings in a canoe as part of an evacuation in the Montreal borough of Pierrefonds. As of Monday, more than 1,500 people have been forced out of their homes in almost 150 municipalities across Quebec.

City life at a standstill.

A man places sandbags outside a home in a flooded residential area in Gatineau, Que. Both English- and French-language school boards announced schools in Gatineau would be closed Monday, as were most provincial and municipal buildings in the city.

Perilous waters.

Waters rise along a row of cottages on the weekend in Rockland, Ont., 40 kilometres east of Ottawa. The Clarence-Rockland area was one of the first areas in Central and Eastern Canada ro require assistance due to heavy flooding.

Surveying the damage.

Marcel Theriault stands inside his flooded home in Gatineau, Que. Residents, volunteers and officials say they are feeling exhausted after days of battling the ever-rising water in Ottawa and Gatineau in what has become a "historic flood."

Help arrives. 

Canadian soldiers inspect a flooded residential area in Gatineau, Que., on May 7. More than 1,500 soldiers were on the ground across the province on Monday, but some community members believe the response was not timely.

The view from the sky.

CBC News took a helicopter ride over Ottawa and Gatineau Monday to capture video of how high the water has risen.

Pump it up, and out.

People in neighbourhoods including Ahuntsic-Cartierville in the Montreal metropolitan area are working around the clock to try and protect their homes. The flooding forced a hospital in Ahuntsic to move dozens of patients to a facility in a nearby town.

In their element.

Water birds found new routes to traverse in parts of the Montreal area, including Rue Cousineau in Ahuntsic-Cartierville.

Water far and wide

An aerial view of the extensive flooding in Vaudreuil, Que.

Welcoming a recession.

The flooded home of Mina Tayarani, who was part of an evacuation after water levels passed the basement and reached over a foot on the main floor, is shown Monday in Île Bizard, Que. Authorities in Quebec were optimistic rising water levels would start to recede by mid-week.

Making the best of the bad.

Across the flood-affected areas in Canada, community members and volunteers were banding together to provide assistance. Here, volunteers were ladling out food at Vaudreuil's city hall for those filling sandbags.

Messy in the Maritimes.

The slow-moving weather system hit Ontario and Quebec first, but by May 6 it had reached parts of the Maritimes. Flooding on Route 105 in Sheffield, N.B., near the Saint John River is shown.

Diving goals.

Scuba divers Ed Monat, left, and Joe George surface at soccer goalposts in a field flooded by the waters from the St. John River in Fredericton. The men said they were diving on the soccer field just for fun, but people in the area living near the river and its tributaries to remain on alert in the coming days as water levels are near or above flood stage in many regions.