The Montreal Metropolitan Community is introducing new measures to better prepare cities and towns for flooding. Nearly 600 maps will have been produced by June 18 and will include the St. Lawrence River, Lac Deux-Montagnes and the Outaouis, Rivière-des-Prairies, Mille-Îles, and the St. Jacques rivers. The mapping of the Richelieu River will be completed by December 2020.
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With updated maps the municipalities of Greater Montreal will have the best tools in hand to prepare against future flooding “We believe that since we have new flood maps with a new methodology, we believe that the government should go ahead and apply the new flood maps for the region of Montreal,” said Massimo Iezzoni, Director General of the Montreal Metropolitan Community or Communauté métropolitaine de Montréal (CMM).
Once the maps are approved, the CCM will be able to better assess future flood risk. This can help reduce the costs associated with flooding not only for communities but for the population at large.
“We believe with these maps we can now manage the rivers and of course the cities with a new approach with is the risk assessment that we are going to use instead of reoccurrences,” Iezzoni told reporters.
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Deux-Montagnes was hit hard by the floods in 2017 and 2019. These maps are a way for the city to take a different approach when looking at the flood zones.
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“The mapping of the flood zones will help — and have helped Deux-Montagnes in 2019 — know where the water will come, what is the depth of the water.” says Mayor of Deux-Montagnes Denis Martin.
The maps are expected to be ready and released to the public as of spring 2021 but Deux-Montagnes isn’t waiting around. Officials say they’re ready. “We have just completed in Deux-Montagnes the dike to make sure there was a permanent way to prevent the water from coming in” Martin told reporters.
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The mayor of Deux-Montagnes believes the new maps will ease the minds of those living in the community. “What we are asking today is to get all the work and all the insecurities for our citizens off their shoulders right now because they have been through a lot for the last three years I could guarantee,” said Martin.
The maps were created using past flooding data to assess future flood risk. They will be used by public security and disaster planning authorities to prevent these incidents from happening in the future.
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