'It was Niagara Falls all of a sudden,' says evacuee of flooded Montreal suburb

Thousands of residents were forced to flee their homes this weekend in Sainte-Marthe-sur-le-Lac, an off-island suburb northwest of Montreal, when a natural dike burst.

Houses and streets are flooded — with more than a dozen communities along the Ottawa River under a state of emergency.

Michelle Ellison is among those residents forced to flee her home. Here is part of her conversation on Monday with As it Happens host Carol Off. 

Michelle, at this point do you have any idea what state your house is in?

No. We haven't been able to get to her house yet. Well, we're on the list.

It could be two or three days before we're able to go to the house.

And so how are you coping with that?

There's not much I can do about it. I know that everybody's working so hard to help us, but it's just that I want to go see my house. I want to see how bad it is. So I'm a little bit upset — not mad, but just like, man, I want to go see my house.

And how much water do you think you've taken in?

I don't know if there's water in the house. The last time we saw pictures, it was up to the stairs ... which means that my crawling space is probably full of water. So if it stays there, I'll be happy.

Can you take us back to Saturday night? The moment when you learned the dike had broken — what was that like?

We were having supper, and then the doorbell rang ... so we went, and they said, "The dike is breaking! We need help. We need help."

So we ran from my house to the dam — it's 30 seconds. So we ran to the dike. As we got there, that's when everything broke loose. The trees just came crashing. You could hear the sound. It was tremendous.

And then the whole thing just opened up, and the water just came — it just came. It was Niagara Falls all of a sudden. It was so powerful that one of the mobile homes that is right at the back of where the dike is, the water moved it to the street. That's how powerful it was.

But Michelle, was that the best place [for] you to be heading to? Shouldn't you be heading in the other direction?

Well, that's when the police blow their sirens and say, "Evacuation, rush!" That's when we ran the other way. 

Were you in danger at any point?

No, because by that time, we just ran to our house and the siren is going crazy.

I know there's a couple of people around my house that are elderly and fragile. So we just knocked on those doors ... and [said], "Come on, let's go get into my car. Move, move, move, move, move."

And we took our two cars and we just went to go to dry land. And within — oh God, I'll say within 10 minutes — there was no more street. It was water. 

So you were having dinner. ... Someone bangs on the door. You run. The water's rushing in and like 10 minutes later, you're in the car. And then within minutes later, the road is gone.

Yeah. I was having my spaghetti. Pasta was ready. My glass of wine was on the table. We were ready for supper. Everything was left there [laughs].

So your spaghetti's still sitting there, you hope.

My spaghetti is still sitting on the stove, and the pasta is still in the sink. I have to laugh about it because it's like, what can I tell you?

But the police were on your case right away, which is good.

The police, everybody — it was fantastic. The help around us was amazing. You would have thought that the Eiffel Tower had just crashed. Everybody was here. Police, ambulance, firemen — everybody.

Have you ever seen your neighbourhood under this much water before? Has this ever happened before?

No, because it was a big flood in 2017 and we didn't get a drop of water. That's why I'm so mad at the insurance, because we were not a flood zone here. We've never got flooded. This domain has been here for 35 years, and it was never a dump of water here.

And so does that mean you're not going to get any help to restore your house?

[The government] is saying that they were going to give us $200,000 [to move] if it gets to be a flood zone.

Where am I going to go with $200,000?

I'm 71 years old. I don't want to buy a house again. I don't want to go into an old folks home. I'm not there yet. Rent an apartment? Pay again for the rest of my life? I paid this house — it's all paid. Everything is clear. I'm free. And now I've got to start all over again? This doesn't make sense. 

Interview produced by Sarah Jackson. Q&A edited for length and clarity.