Lake St-Louis Road in Léry, south of Montreal, has been flooded for weeks and residents claim that town authorities aren’t doing enough to help.
“It’s almost a month,” fumes George Borogerdian, who explains that he has already broken several pumps trying to keep the water out of his house.
“It comes up, it goes down, it comes up, it goes down.”
The road is on private land that leads from Lac St-Louis and services about 10 homes. Between three and five of those homes are cut off from the road by high water, depending on the height of the fluctuating water levels.
Some residents say they can’t even make a living.
“We have a daycare here, this guy takes care of the animals, I cannot go to work because of the stress,” Borogerdian tells Global News.
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To make matters worse, he argues that it’s now become a health and safety issue because septic tanks are overflowing.
“Overflowing, yes,” says Borogerdian. “Everywhere you can see.”
So the water is contaminated.
Garbage is also piling up.
“I’m stuck up with garbage in the back, man,” says Nicholas Lachapelle, pointing to three rolling bins overflowing with garbage while standing beside a small yellow kayak with which he ferries his kids to school daily.
Also, he’s afraid that if someone needs to get to a hospital, they might be stuck.
“If there’s an emergency and the water is up, who’s gonna come here?” he asks.
The flooded area is about 300 metres from Lac Saint Louis and is surrounded by a swamp. So far, the city gave them one pump which workers monitor daily. But those who live on the street claim more needs to be done.
“When the water comes too high, this pump is not enough,” Borogerdian points out. “If they put another pump, we have no problem. That’s all we asking for— another pump.”
But town manager Dale Stewart disagrees.
“No matter how many pumps we have there, you’re just pumping the very same water,” Stewart said, describing what happens when the lake’s water level reaches a certain point.
City officials say they will continue to monitor the situation, but that residents will have to take precautions and do the best they can until the water recedes.
WATCH: (May 13, 2019) Montreal communities still dealing with flooding
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