Mayors from the Montreal region are criticizing the Quebec government for not fulfilling its promise of increasing financial aid for victims of the recent rains. Quebec Premier François Legault said the province would expand its disaster financial assistance program after the tropical storm Debby floods on August 9 and 10.
During a visit to Louiseville on August 16, Legault suggested temporarily expanding the program to include sewer backups, which had previously been excluded since they are typically covered by private insurance. The current program only compensated homeowners for water damage caused by flooding.
However, Public Security Minister François Bonnardel said in a radio interview that only homes with “mixed causes” of flooding were eligible. He emphasized, “We’re not going to replace private insurers.”
The Communauté métropolitaine de Montréal (CMM), which represents 82 municipalities, expressed disappointment, saying there had been no substantial change to the program if sewer backups not linked to nearby waterways are excluded.
Louiseville Mayor Yvon Deshaies mentioned receiving calls from residents confused about their aid eligibility. He said some people on certain streets were told they were eligible, while others were not.
“It’s confusing. People don’t know if they’re going to get help or not,” said Deshaies, adding that approximately 300 basements in the town of 7,000 were flooded. “I want all our people to be compensated. That’s what I want. It doesn’t make sense for anyone in Louiseville to be refused.”
As of the afternoon of August 23, the government’s disaster relief website advised those affected by the torrential rain on August 9 and 10 to submit a request for financial aid, even if unsure of their eligibility. However, the site mentioned that assistance for sewer backups would only be available “if a nearby waterway overflowed.”
A message from the Public Security Department to municipalities, obtained by the Canadian Press, confirmed that flooding caused only by sewer backups or water infiltration, without the overflow of a nearby waterway, would not be covered by the program.
A professor of urban hydrimagine ology, Alain Mailhot, criticized the government’s approach. He said it doesn’t make sense to limit compensation for sewer backups to homes near rivers. Mailhot explained that backups typically occur when surface runoff overwhelms the sewer system, often unrelated to nearby waterways. “I [the government] defined it like this to avoid having to reimburse everybody,” Mailhot said. “But from a hydrological perspective, it’s difficult to understand.”
Mailhot warned that determining eligibility under the new criteria would be an “endless headache.” He added, “It’s a Pandora’s box. It’s going to be very complicated.”
Earlier this week, the CMM urged the province to update its program to reflect the new reality of climate change, advocating for sewer backups caused by “urban runoff” during heavy rain to be eligible for aid. Nicolas Milot, interim director of ecological transition and innovation at the CMM, noted that flooding is no longer confined to waterways and can occur almost anywhere. He emphasized that while the government program was designed to complement private insurance, many policies don’t cover the full extent of damage caused by sewer backups in extreme events like tropical storm Debby.
