Is all this flooding due to a watershed management problem? Quebec is the only province without a provincial watershed authority, said one Quebec climatologist.
“Right now, the government’s preoccupation is the day-to-day,” said Francine Charbonneau, minister responsible for seniors, adding the most important priority is taking care of flood victims until the water goes down.
READ MORE: Quebec floods: Yamachiche latest municipality to declare state of emergency
But the opposition would like the government to start thinking about the future. Experts say climate change is causing more extreme weather.
“We’re now in the phase where catastrophic meteorological events will happen more and more, so we have to step up our game in terms of prevention,” said Parti Quebecois Leader Jean-François Lisée.
Part of the problem, said Concordia University professor and climatologist Jeannine St-Jacques, is that in the early 2000s, Quebec downloaded responsibility for water management to municipalities.
READ MORE: Quebec floods: How is the province managing all the water?
“A watershed will be containing many municipalities,” said St-Jacques. “So there needs to be a provincial body, public body to be managing water. We’ve lost that in Quebec.”
Army deploys a makeshift raft to deliver sandbags to vulnerable homes pic.twitter.com/mZfuVBF4tb
— Raquel Fletcher (@RaquelGlobal) May 9, 2017
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