A 1.5-kilometre-long temporary dike system – a protective wall separating homes from the Rivière des Prairies – has gone up in Pierrefonds-Roxboro.
The City of Montreal says the $1.5 million wall runs through people’s properties and across their fence lines.
The measure is temporary, explained Montreal’s mayor, because “we couldn’t build a wall in the river or directly in the water. It’s not feasible.”
But Soraya Martinez Ferrada says the temporary system could serve in the future.
“This is equipment that, once purchased, can be reused. But still, it takes time and effort,” Martinez Ferrada told a press conference Wednesday along the river bank.
“What was done and the lessons learned by the team here are quite remarkable. And now, we’ll be able to share this learning with others, with our colleagues, partners, and mayors of other municipalities.”
Martinez Ferrada says more permanent measures will be needed to prevent flooding altogether in the future. She’s meeting new Quebec Premier Christine Fréchette later Wednesday to discuss the current flooding situation, among other topics.
“She herself is aware of the situation; she went out into the field a few days ago to see firsthand what’s happening with the floods,” the Montreal mayor said of Fréchette. “The conversation now needs to focus, once we have the mapping done, on how the Quebec government will partner with municipalities to implement preventative measures that require funding.
“And this investment work cannot be undertaken solely by the municipalities; they will need support from Quebec.”
The mayor says the system for preventing floods before it’s too late was born out of lessons from the 2017 flood in Montreal’s West Island. That year, some 800 homes were flooded in Pierrefonds-Roxboro alone.
“The lessons learned from the 2017 flood led to many new methods for preventing floods and identifying high-risk areas,” Martinez Ferrada said.
Pierrefonds resident Denis Gingras, who owns a house right on the water, remembers all too well that spring nearly a decade ago.
He has vivid memories of the army helping pump out water; residents having to take canoes to get to dry land; and being kept up all night with worry about what would happen to his home.
This year, in stark contrast, he says he’s extremely confident in the city’s ability to protect residents. Gingras says Pierrefonds Mayor Jim Beis, who stood beside Martinez Ferrada at the press conference, goes to check on the water level and situation there every day.
