This Montreal street keeps getting flooded; residents' despair and bills are growing

CTV News

21 hours ago

Garages, basements and other pieces of property were damaged again in Montreal's Saint-Leonard borough.
In Montreal's Saint-Leonard borough, many homes on Belmont Street were again flooded on Sunday night.
It is the second year in a row that homeowners have seen their basements and garages fill up with water, the street blocked off, and furniture destroyed.
Many on the street had finished repairing and renovating their living spaces from flooding in 2024.
Resident Karim Chemaa said it's scary because residents do not know if flooding will happen in the coming months or years.
'It could happen another time,' he said. 'We don't know.'
City politicians held news scrums on Monday to speak about the flood response and what is being done to respond to the regular heavy rains that cause flooding.
'Unfortunately, I'm not mayor of Montreal,' said Ensemble Montreal leader Soraya Martinez Ferrada. 'I'm a citizen of the east part of Montreal, I've been flooded myself four times. I understand the frustration. I understand that when it rains, you want to be there because you're scared of what's going to happen to your house.'
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Residents on Belmont Street in Montreal say they're angry after their basements were flooded for the second year in a row. tiktok viral trending mtl montreal weather rain storm flood ♬ original sound - CTV Montreal - CTV Montreal
Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante said the heavy rain on Sunday and the rain last year during storm Debbie regularly puts incredible pressure on the city's sewer systems.
'No system can, in fact, absorb so much rainwater so quickly, despite all the efforts our administration is making to make our city more resilient to this kind of torrential rain,' she wrote on X.
She said the city is investing heavily in adapting to the regular downpours.
'We are moving in the right direction, and quickly, but zero risk does not exist, and this is a new reality to which we must respond,' she said. 'Today, my team and I will be at work to assess the situation and assist Montrealers who are affected by the flooding.'
Plante said on Monday that there are dozens of small areas in Montreal, such as Belmont Street, that are regularly flooded and that they are not all the same.
'Sometimes they are very small, it can be just a piece of a street and other places it's more like a few streets altogether, and for each of those vulnerable areas, the potential solutions are varied,' she said. 'What we're trying to do now is to consider everything.'
She added that some boroughs were more affected than others, particularly in the north of the city.
Those affected can contact 311 for help.