Five days into the flooding, fatigue is setting in, and volunteers are changing up tactics as they, firefighters and the army continue to battle a rising tide in the western Montreal area.
“The last time I felt this tired I was in my 20s,” said Kim Reid of On Rock Community Services. Reid’s organization closed up a 24-hour diner established for volunteers and is now concentrating on feeding displaced residents three meals a day.
A volunteer coordination centre, which was open for two months during the floods of 2017, also reopened at the Holiday Inn in Pointe-Claire.
“I’ve been telling people over the next couple days to rest up,” said Sabrina Stoute, the woman who established Operation: Montreal Flooding 2019.
In Ile-Bizard, which so far has seen some of the worst flooding on the Island of Montreal, 15 people have been displaced from the Ile-Mercier area. The bridge to the island closed Monday afternoon.
Now, officials and volunteers are bracing for the water levels that could surge Friday in the midst of thawing ice and rain.
WATCH: Coverage of the Quebec floods on Globalnews.ca