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quebec will consider expanding natural disaster compensation program: legault
"i did my job. my job was to settle hundreds of problems," legault says of the delay before visiting places hit by last week's storm.
aug 15 2024
4 minute read
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louiseville — the provincial government will consider widening the scope of its disaster compensation program in the wake of the torrential rains that swept across southern quebec last week, premier françois legault said thursday.
and legault is defending his management of the crisis, in which hundreds of homes, businesses and public buildings were flooded and around 170 roads were damaged.
responding to critics who said he should have visited flood-stricken regions sooner — as he did after previous disasters, such as the flooding in the spring of 2023 in baie-st-paul — legault said with so many regions affected by post-tropical storm debby at the same time, it was more intelligent and useful to stay put and co-ordinate efforts.
he said it’s easy for politicians to immediately rush in front of the cameras, but in this case the first priority was getting the power back for 550,000 quebecers left in the dark and ensuring citizens isolated by collapsed roads were rescued and safe.
“there were hundreds of sites,” legault told reporters in the mauricie town of louiseville, during his first visit to an area hit hard by the storm. “do i go to lanaudière, do i go to mauricie, do i go to quebec (city), do i go to the montérégie? things were bursting everywhere.
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“i did my job. my job was to settle hundreds of problems.”
legault noted debby left its mark in 10 regions of quebec. in louiseville, 250 residents were hit by floods as rivers overflowed into fields that couldn’t absorb all the water, resulting in residential basements flooding as sewers backed up.
on thursday, debris and wrecked household furniture and carpets were still piled on many streets as residents worked to clean out basements. nearby trois-rivières loaned crews of blue-collars to help with the cleanup.
on hand to meet legault were local mayors, including louiseville mayor yvon deshaies, who said things were so bad that he wants quebec to call in the army.
“i don’t mean tanks or armoured vehicles,” deshaies told reporters before he and other mayors met with legault. “we just need 10 or 15 more strong persons.”
legault rejected the idea and said quebec can come up with the additional personnel.
“we don’t need the army to come up with a dozen people,” legault told the mayor sitting in front of him before the media were shooed out of the room.
what deshaies appreciated, however, was what legault had to say at a later news conference after a visit to a regional health centre that was hit by flooding.
under the current rules, only homes flooded by bodies of water such as rivers qualify for aid from quebec’s general financial assistance program regarding disasters (programme général d’assistance financière lors de sinistres).
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water mains and sewers backing up into basements are in theory covered by private insurance, something not all people can afford. often the insurance does not cover the full costs.
legault, however, noted what the mayors told him — that the water backing up into people’s basements comes from the surface, so it might be time to adjust the programs.
“at some point, we have to use common sense and put in place programs for exceptional situations,” he said.
“it’s clear the insurance companies are overwhelmed. the question people ask is: ‘am i covered by my insurance? what is not covered, and could the government cover some of it?’ we’re in this now.
“i understand people are worried and feeling anxious. we are now into a money question.”
legault did not provide any further details but, listening nearby, deshaies said the comments left him feeling happy.
“he came here, we told him what we wanted and he said he will examine the program,” deshaies told reporters.
ideally, he added, a person with $30,000 in damages and insurance coverage for $20,000 should be able to get another $10,000 from the government.
legault, however, said it is too soon to talk of possible legislation whch would force homeowners to refrain from transforming basements into living space, a solution which has been suggested by several experts this week who say such living spaces cannot be made 100 per cent flood proof.
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the government has also encountered resistance at the idea of preventing flood victims from re-building in zones classified as hazardous.
expanding the compensation program, as legault suggested, would cost millions and add to already long wait times for compensation .
the most recent storm hit a total of 86 municipalities, public security said. on thursday, 29 were still feeling the impact. a total of 38 residences were still flooded, out of 2,300 that were hard hit. a total of 464 people had been forced from their homes.
legault said 1,500 people have already signed up on aide sites asking for help.
legault’s appearance came after days of unpredictable and tumultuous weather in quebec . in some places, rainfall from post-tropical storm debby reached 200 millimetres last friday.
the regions of montreal , the laurentians, lanaudière and mauricie were greatly affected. at the height of the storm, more than 500,000 hydro-québec customers were without power.
nearly 170 roads were damaged. highway 13 in montreal was reopened thursday morning after nearly a week, but more work will be needed in the coming days.
a warning has been issued of possible landslides in areas with clay soil. signs of a landslide can include a crack, a bulge in a slope, and an unusual flow of water in an embankment.
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quebec’s union of municipalities has called for more financial support so individual areas can implement climate adaptation measures. according to montreal mayor valérie plante, an additional $2 billion per year would be needed for all municipalities. she’s asking for half of that amount for montreal alone.
the government has already set aside more than $5.6 billion for municipalities to improve their infrastructure and combat the erosion of banks.
legault noted much of that money has not been spent, but added everyone recognizes that more needs to be done to deal with increasingly erratic weather .
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