Liz Draper

Liz Draper, LJI Reporter

The Pontiac region received 36.3 millimeters of rain on Friday as the remnants of tropical storm Debby hit southern Quebec, according to data from Environment Canada.

The torrential rains wreaked havoc across this corner of the province, flooding basements, blasting apart beaver dams and drowning out the culverts and ditches designed to control the water.

While Pontiac’s share of the downpour was less than half of the 83 millimeters Environment Canada reported as having fallen across Gatineau that day, the rain still did some damage along the eastern edge of the Municipality of Pontiac.

In a Facebook post on Saturday, the municipality warned residents of several points where roads had been damaged.

The first, and hardest hit, was chemin Elm, on the section between Highway 148 and chemin Terry-Fox.
Pontiac mayor Roger Larose explained a culvert under the road had overflown and the water had washed away a good portion of the road’s edge.

“By tomorrow night I think it should be open,” he told THE EQUITY on Monday afternoon, confirming the Tuesday night reopening originally predicted by the municipality on Saturday.

Other damage included a culvert washout on the western portion of chemin Kawartha, which was repaired by Saturday evening, and some damage along chemin Crégheur in Heyworth, which was “passable with caution,” the municipality wrote in its post.

This is the second time this summer heavy rains have caused road washouts in this municipality.

In July, another downpour caused the culvert on chemin Thérien to give way completely, forcing the residents of the road to use an elaborate detour.

“The roads should hold on pretty good, but it always depends what you get. Lately we’re getting storms like crazy,” Larose said. “Our ditches and culverts, they can only take so much.”

Mayor Larose explained that after significant delays with trying to get the culvert replaced, the municipality has requested a special emergency designation from the province which he said will help expedite the process and do away with some significant administrative hurdles.

Larose said he’s hoping to open conversations with his residents and with the MRC des Collines-de-l’Outaouais around how best to manage the water as it moves from the Gatineau hills down to the Ottawa River, as he anticipates this won’t be the last time his municipality has to deal with a sudden, and significant, load of water.

“This time I think we were right on it because it happened Friday afternoon and everybody was still [in the office],” Larose said, explaining this made it possible for his team to respond quickly. “But the citizens will have to get ready too, because this is going to happen again.”