| Comments | Montérégie QC, April 17 to June 22, 2011. Early spring melt along with rainy weather between March and May led to historic flooding in the Montérégie region of Quebec. Communities in the Richelieu Valley experienced heavy rainfall from March to May, including Montreal where it rained 182 per cent above average during that time. Starting April 18 to 24, nine municipalities were affected by flooding. Rising water levels in the Richelieu River caused flooding and damages to an additional 16 municipalities, including Sainte-Anne-de-Sabrevios where 400 homes were damaged and Saint-Paul-de-l’Île-aux-Noix where 200 homes were damaged. From April to June, over 40 municipalities in the Montérégie region were affected by flooding and by May 6, 11 municipalities declared states of emergency. On May 23, the Richelieu River set a new all-time record water level of 30.7 metres, due to several days of intense rain. Most significantly impacted by the flooding was Saint-Jean-sur Richelieu where a over 3000 homes were flooded and approximately 1000 people were evacuated from their homes. In total, the floods affected 3,927 people and forced the evacuation of approximately 1,651 people from their homes. |