Evacuations, street closures due to Gatineau flooding
Posted May 2, 2017 06:41:30 AM.
Last Updated May 2, 2017 06:43:44 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
GATINEAU, Que. — Firefighters began going house to house to carry out voluntary evacuations, early Tuesday morning, as rising water levels on the Ottawa River caused more road closures.
Streets have been closed to all traffic and voluntary evacuations are being carried out in three areas of Gatineau:
- east of Autoroute 50, on the north side of the Gatineau River
- along rue Jacque Cartier, near parc la Baie
- in east-end Gatineau along boul. Hurtubise
Residents who choose to evacuate their homes are being housed at the Jean-René-Monette community centre.
Homeowners who decide to stay put can get sandbags from le Ville de Gatineau at 11 locations.
The flooding is thanks in part to the rain that fell over the weekend and yesterday; the amount of rainfall in two days was more than half what we typically receive in the entire month of May.
“Sunday and Monday, (we received) 45 to about 65 millimetres of rain,” said Jill Taylor, 1310 NEWS meteorologist. “The average May rainfall is 80.1 millimetres of rain.”
More showers will fall today, and Taylor expects another 25 to 30 mm of rain on Friday.
“So it looks like we’re headed for above-average rainfall amounts, and it’s only the first week of May,” Taylor said.
The rain, paired with snowmelt in the north, is expected to rapidly increase water levels and flows on the Ottawa River, from Mattawa to Montreal.
Flooding concerns on the Ottawa River are highest around Lac Deschenes, Petrie Island and Boise Village, east of Cumberland, according to the Rideau Valley Conservation Authority. South Nation Conservation has warned of the likelihood of river levels significantly increasing in Alfred and Plantagenet township.
