Montreal was drenched in record-breaking rain and hundreds of thousands of homes were plunged into darkness across Quebec as tropical storm Debby‘s last gasps hit eastern Canada on Friday.
“The torrential rains that fell on Quebec yesterday caused flooding in several homes and damage in several regions,” Quebec Premier François Legault wrote on social media Saturday morning.
“The Quebec government supports affected municipalities. My thoughts are with all those who have suffered a disaster or material losses.”
Quebec provincial police in the Mauricie region were searching for an 80-year-old pedestrian after a roadway collapsed and the man was swept into the Batiscan River late on Friday. Emergency services were called to the scene in the municipality of Notre-Dame-de-Montauban at around 11:30 p.m., but police say they are conducting their search with drones because the area is currently inaccessible and dangerous.
Montreal smashed its all-time daily record for rain after it received more than 150 millimetres of rain, with 173 millimetres in the western tip of the island, according to Environment Canada. It broke the last record for rainfall set back in November 1996.
Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante said police, firefighters and work crews were out in full force to help flood victims.
“Several backups have been reported and many cars immobilized by the water have been towed,” Plante wrote on social media Saturday.
“It is a very difficult morning for many Montrealers.”
The heavy precipitation was due to the remnants of tropical storm Debby and a low pressure system that had formed over the Great Lakes.
The downpour flooded homes and roads across the province, while knocking out power for more than 500,000 Hydro-Québec customers at the peak of outages.
The public utility says strong wind gusts led to the widespread outages and that teams remain on the ground Saturday morning. As of 12 p.m., more than 90,000 clients were still without power.
“We are mobilizing all available teams to restore service as quickly as possible,” Hydro-Québec said in an update on its website.
Montreal wasn’t the only hard-hit area. Gatineau was drenched with up to to 100 millimetres of rain, while the downpour brought 221 millimetres to Lanoraie in the Lanaudière region.
Quebec’s Transport Ministry said teams were on the ground Saturday afternoon to assess “the damage to infrastructure and roads.”
“The Lanaudière and Mauricie regions are particularly affected. The ministry is asking the population to avoid travelling there for the time being, unless it is essential. The teams are working to secure the network and set up detour routes,” the ministry said on social media.
The wet weather also descended on parts of Ontario, bringing about 76 millimetres of rain to Ottawa. The city said some roads in the West Carleton and Kanata neighbourhoods were badly damaged.
In Toronto, between 25 and 50 millimetres of rain was expected. Environment Canada reported 38 millimetres in Oshawa by 10 a.m. Saturday.
The remnants of the storm are expected to dump 40 to 60 millimetres on New Brunswick through Saturday. Fredericton was hit with 57.8 millimetres of rain by the afternoon.
— with files from The Canadian Press