Heavy December rainfall across Quebec leads to flooding fears, evacuations

Dec 18, 2023 | 2:47 PM

QUEBEC — Heavy rain across Quebec has officials monitoring rising water levels in the provincial capital region and ordering evacuations in some areas.

Quebec City police say about 20 homes were evacuated in the city’s northeast corner, near Lac des Petites Îles.

Media reports said about 200 residences were evacuated near the Montmorency River north of Quebec City in Ste-Brigitte-de-Laval.

Joshua Ménard-Suarez, spokesman for Quebec’s civil service office, couldn’t confirm the total number of people forced from their homes but said the majority of the evacuations were ordered as a preventive measure.

He said water levels should reach their peak Monday evening and begin to descend as quickly as they rose.

Environment Canada says up to 80 millimetres of rain was expected in some regions of the province.

Roughly 68 millimetres had fallen in Montreal by 10 a.m., which was already a record for a single day of rainfall in December.

Meteorologist Michèle Fleury says the previous one-day rainfall record in Montreal for the month was recorded on Dec. 11, 2003, when 51 mm of rain fell on the city. 

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 18, 2023.

The Canadian Press