West Quebec mayors grapple with 'new normal' after latest floods

Joanne Hamilton heard the water before she saw it.

It was 5:30 a.m. Monday, and the rain had been pouring down all night. With the power out, Hamilton and her husband Philip felt their way to the front door of their home on MeechLake to peer outside.

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In the dimpredawn light they saw the torrent of muddy water tear away trees and wash away soil, and watched as their driveway disintegrated and their car slowly tipped into a newly carved ditch.

"It's very scary," Hamilton said. "All of a sudden climate change is so real to us when we have a disaster that affects us personally."

State of emergency

That's how many municipalities across west Quebec are feeling this weekin the aftermath of the record-breaking storm.

We have to be ready to deal with situations like that because they're going to happen more and more.- Gatineau Mayor Maxime Pedneaud-Jobin

As they assess the latest damage, which comes towardthe tail end of a year of destructive flooding across the region, they're also wondering how their communities can mitigate the costly impact of these weather events that seemto have become the new normal.

"It makes me wonder if that's the new tendency of the weather," saidLaPcheMayorRobertBussire."It seems to be amplifying all the time, so we really don't know what to expect now."

The municipalitydeclared a state of emergency after communities such as Wakefieldsuffered floodingand mudslides that cut whole neighbourhoods off from main roads.

"We've been hit twice in three weeks," said Bussire.

One of the washed-out culverts was recentlywidened to accommodate greater volumes of water.

"We will have to do a study to be able to repair these things for the future and not have disasters again, and that will cost a lot of money," Bussiresaid.

Gatineau assessing infrastructure

The mayor of Gatineausaid hiscity will also need to take a long, hard look at the state of its infrastructure.

"We have to be ready to deal with situations like that because they're going to happen more and more," said Maxime Pedneaud-Jobinduring a newsconference Monday.

Pontiac MPWill Amos said rural communities in his riding were hit especially hard, butdon't have the tax base to pay for a major infrastructure overhaul to handle increasingly severe weather.

"We have a number of municipalities that have lost millions and millions of dollars worth of infrastructure this year," said Amos.

Hesaid he will be helping communities access financing through the federal government'sdisaster mitigation and adaptation fund.

On MeechLake, Hamilton said she's thought about whetherit makes sense to stay in that location, but decided their "dream home" is worth saving.

"We'll fix this. We'll get over it."