Harry Babaroutsis

By Joel Goldenberg
The Suburban

The borough of St. Laurent received numerous complaints about flooding during the July 10 downpour, and that topic dominated the August council meeting question period, which went on for nearly two hours, during which residents called for action.

The borough was exceptionally affected by the rain, which originated with Hurricane Beryl. Videos and photos emerged of massive flooding in the area of Thimens and Place Vertu — at the time, The Suburban spoke to the owner of a 130-unit building on Thimens whose garage was flooded and where power was lost for a time. Mayor Alan DeSousa said he saw videos and photos of the area near Autoroute 40, and compared it to the Black Sea.

One of those speaking at the council meeting was Norman Street resident Harry Babaroutsis. “I got flooded with three feet of water,” he told The Suburban. “I have to change my heating system. I cut my walls downstairs, I lost a lot of stuff. I’m a photographer and I lost some cameras. My snowblower got flooded.” Babaroutsis estimates his losses at about $55,000.

DeSousa told residents climate change has prompted more heavy rains over the years, and that solutions are being sought, in terns of what the borough and the City of Montreal can do, and what residents can do as well. He was out of town July 10, and has visited residents in recent days.

The Mayor told The Suburban that “the city was not spared July 10. There were streets that had been redone with new infrastructure, like my street, Saint-Germain 10 years ago, and I even had water in my basement.

Flooding also took place in 2005 and 2006.DeSousa said inspectors visited industries in 2007 to inspect their water retention systems, “and we found they had been disconnected. I have no clue why [that happened].”