Flooding remains biggest story
Flooding is still the biggest story Wednesday as rain pelts down. The peak is expected to come Thursday or Friday. Quebec is offering to buy certain houses for $200,000 to get people out of the worst flood zones, a maneuver examined here by the Gazette. It’s fine and dandy to say you have a $900K house on Île Bigras, but if it’s literally underwater, you may be best advised to cut your losses. Surely owners have some responsibility for making a choice to live so close by the river – even if government also has to admit that zoning certain areas residential wasn’t exactly smart either. At least flood maps are being redrawn in the Montreal area.
Upside: Montreal may get some of its wetlands back because the rivers are making their wishes very clear.
Other upside: Can people still be living in denial of climate change?
steph 07:47 on 2019-04-24 Permalink
are these people/houses insured?
dhomas 08:24 on 2019-04-24 Permalink
@Steph that was my initial thought, too. $200k should be enough to buy a new plot of land, then insurance should cover the rebuilding costs (I know my insurance covers rebuilding my home in the event of a complete loss). I then proceeded to check my insurance policy (and I have pretty robust insurance), to find the following:
“Flood
WE DO NOT INSURE loss, damage or expenses caused directly or indirectly by flood.
“Flood” includes waves, tides, tidal waves, tsunamis, seiches, dam breaks and the rising or
overflow of any stream of water or body of water, whether natural or man-made.
This exclusion applies whether or not there is another cause or occurrence (whether
covered or not) that contributes concurrently or in any sequence to the occasioning of the
loss, damage or expenses.
However, we insure loss or damage caused directly to insured property by a fire or explosion
resulting from flood.”
That said, I’m nowhere near a flood zone, so I may have opted out of such coverage. But my insurance is already so expensive that I can only imagine how much adding “flood insurance” would cost, especially in a high risk area.
Marc 09:12 on 2019-04-24 Permalink
I think I recall my insurance company sending an update a few years ago saying that the plan I subscribe to no longer covers flooding. If there’s one thing humans are good at it’s denial.
Ephraim 09:48 on 2019-04-24 Permalink
Climate change, flat earth, KKK, Sandy Hook, man on the moon, chemtrails, windmills give cancer…. people will believe silly shit if it means that they feel it gives them, understanding, certainty, control, security and helps maintain a positive self-image. And a lot of society rejects any change at any cost… try to get someone using Tide detergent to change, even if something works better, costs half as much and doesn’t pollute… If their flip phone batteries never died… they would still be using a flip phone.
walkerp 09:51 on 2019-04-24 Permalink
What I heard on the radio this morning was that if the insurance companies do not cover it, that’s when you are entitled to government emergency funding. When insurance companies start covering new disasters, then the government doesn’t use emergency funding. Floods did not used to be routinely covered but now they are starting to (though probably at prohibitive cost if you continue to live in a high-risk area).
Mark Côté 10:35 on 2019-04-24 Permalink
My house insurance also informed me some time ago that flood protection was no longer included in the basic plan. If you want confirmation of big shifts like climate change, look no further than insurance companies.
SMD 11:47 on 2019-04-24 Permalink
A Rigaud resident’s helpful perspective, in Le Devoir today:
He also says he’d take the $200K to move, in a heartbeat.
Ian 12:32 on 2019-04-24 Permalink
He’s right, 76 was a rough year across Canada, but that area is considered a 50 year flood plain – that it is apparently now annual-ish is regrettable, but not unforeseeable, especially since people have been talking about climate change flooding for well over 30 years now.
Mr.Chinaski 13:01 on 2019-04-24 Permalink
Il faut simplement faire comprendre à la population c’est quoi la ligne 0-20 ans, et c’est quoi la ligne 0-100 ans. Fait un vox pop, la majorité des gens n’ont aucune idée de ceci et ce que ça veut dire (même si c’est très évident).
Raymond Lutz 13:52 on 2019-04-24 Permalink
Denial? I’ll paste my pinned mastodon toot:
I don’t believe anymore good arguments can change something in people’s head. I don’t believe anymore in Rationality as a driving social force: we’re hardwired to hang to our misconceptions. Read this Atlantic article for a starter. Here’s a quote: “Having social support, from an evolutionary standpoint, is far more important than knowing the truth.” Pascal Boyer
steph 15:36 on 2019-04-24 Permalink
So they [i]could[/i] be insured but chose not to be? Do you think that would work with my car insurance?
Ian Rogers 16:12 on 2019-04-24 Permalink
In other news you can buy a 3 bedroom house in Île Bizard for under 150k now…
Chris 00:20 on 2019-04-25 Permalink
Ephraim, you forgot ‘deities’ in your list of “silly shit” that people believe in “if it means that they feel it gives them, understanding, certainty, control, security and helps maintain a positive self-image”. 🙂
dhomas 09:07 on 2019-04-25 Permalink
We get it, Chris. You’re an atheist and think everyone else should be, too. It’s getting to be a bit long in the tooth and, frankly, equally as annoying as religious folks who try to push their beliefs at every opportunity.
I’m not saying you’re wrong, we just don’t need to hear it every time you post, even when it adds very little to the conversation.
Max 12:06 on 2019-04-25 Permalink
The Globe and Mail has a fairly detailed piece on the ongoing problem of inadequate flood mapping:
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-poor-flood-risk-maps-or-none-at-all-are-keeping-canadian-communities/