Opposition says Projet lame on flooding
The Ensemble mayor of Pierrefonds-Roxboro says that the city is not doing enough to stave off spring flooding.
There’s no response from the city recorded here, although there’s a suggestion that at least there’s no expectation of high water this season. Either way, though, is this something the city can unilaterally fix? People moved into flood zones, and the flooding situation will not improve as the planet gets warmer. The city alone can’t hold that back.
Ian 17:47 on 2022-03-15 Permalink
Pumping stations and sandbags do somehow seem like a more useful way to spend money than, say, renovating Peel , but what do I know about running a city built on an island during a climate crisis in which rising water levels is a known feature only getting worse over time?
Maybe they can help re-animate the flood zones with some clowns.
EmilyG 18:57 on 2022-03-15 Permalink
I’ve lived in that neighbourhood most of my life. It didn’t used to be a flood zone, but in the past few years, there is sometimes a spring flood.
I imagine there are a lot of people who moved here when it didn’t used to flood.
Kate 19:33 on 2022-03-15 Permalink
Global warming is inescapable and its consequences are not evenly distributed. Sooner or later some people will have to move away from areas that are now flood zones – or that went from being flooded every 100 years to every 5 – and, furthermore, leaving behind houses that can’t be sold. It’s rough, but it’s only one example of the scourge of global warming that’s coming.
EmilyG 21:19 on 2022-03-15 Permalink
Yeah.
The floods aren’t much of a danger to my particular house, but sometimes I’ll be walking along near the water, and thinking about how I don’t want to live there because of the flood risk.
Ian 08:02 on 2022-03-16 Permalink
@Kate “Sooner or later some people will have to move away from areas that are now flood zones” I respectfully disagree, tell it to the Netherlands
People go on about bike paths in Dutch cities, why not follow their example of dikes, dams and floodgates?
DeWolf 09:32 on 2022-03-16 Permalink
@Ian, Peel is being renovated because the century-old water main needs to be replaced, which was also the reason behind the renovations of Ste-Catherine, St-Hubert and (back in the day) St-Laurent.
I think you’ve been reading Ensemble’s press releases too much if you think the city is taking five years and spending $108 million just to build a bike path.
Joey 10:15 on 2022-03-16 Permalink
I would venture to guess that more Montreal dwellings are at risk of flooding in the near term due to our terrible infrastructure and climate-change-exacerbated freeze-thaw cycles than rising water levels. Didn’t a water main break recently along that stretch of Ste-Catherine being completely redone?
Kevin 10:17 on 2022-03-16 Permalink
The confusion is understandable since the city replaced the water mains and sewers and electrical wiring along Peel Street in 2015, said last year that the project was completed, and last week announced another redesign (including more underground work) that will take 3 years to finish.
DeWolf 10:49 on 2022-03-16 Permalink
What the city announced last week was the final urban design, but the project as a whole has been in the works since 2018.
Also, the underground works in 2015 were only partially completed.
https://ville.montreal.qc.ca/pls/portal/docs/PAGE/M_CHANTIER_FR/MEDIA/DOCUMENTS/20180619_PEEL_SEANCE-INFO-PUBLIQUE_FINAL.PDF
DeWolf 10:52 on 2022-03-16 Permalink
As you can see in the document above, two phases of the Peel Street revamp have been completed (above Sherbrooke and below René-Lévesque). This is the final phase, originally meant to be launched last year but delayed due to the pandemic.
Ian 12:04 on 2022-03-16 Permalink
@DeWolf re: “I think you’ve been reading Ensemble’s press releases too much if you think the city is taking five years and spending $108 million just to build a bike path.”
I said no such thing. I said “Pumping stations and sandbags do somehow seem like a more useful way to spend money than, say, renovating Peel ”
Regardless, it seems callous to have a budget for “urban design” downtown but none for critical flooding prevention in the West Island …
DeWolf 12:27 on 2022-03-16 Permalink
And I didn’t say anything about flood prevention, but I did take issue that you suggest renovating Peel Street is superfluous. Water mains don’t fix themselves and if digging up one of the city’s most prominent streets isn’t an opportunity to rethink the way the street is arranged, then what is?
The city should be working on flood management, yeah, but that doesn’t mean it the other things it is doing are not worthwhile.
Ian 17:11 on 2022-03-16 Permalink
AH ok now I understand where we are at odds, I meant renovation in the sense of sprucing up the joint. Of course I have no beef with critical infrastructure repairs &/ or maintenance.
🙂
Orr 20:42 on 2022-03-16 Permalink
Speaking of spring flooding, I went to see the new higher dike (digue) at Sainte-Marthe-sur-le-Lac in February.
In 2019 spring flooding, one-third of the town flooded and 5000 people were evacuated.
New digue is very big and now they’re well protected from becoming part of Lac des deux montagnes.
qatzelok 21:10 on 2022-03-16 Permalink
Orr, did you notice that now NO ONE can see the water?
The residents have protected their ugly bungalows on cul-de-sacs by uglifying the entire shoreline and making it inhospitable for any birds or plants.
These houses should be moved, and the shorelines re-naturalized. It’s a crime that they were ever built where they are, and this needs to be corrected.
dwgs 08:39 on 2022-03-17 Permalink
Holy crap I actually agree with qatzelok. I have to go lie down.