Heavy rainfall floods several Quebec rivers

Quebec officials have reported flooding on a handful of rivers north of Montreal and in Quebec City after heavy downpours fell on parts of the province this week.

The municipality of Sainte-Émélie-de-l'Énergie, Que., declared a state of emergency after high water levels cut off about 100 households from road access Saturday. The state of emergency will be maintained until at least Sunday morning. 

Marc André Forget is among the residents affected by the flood. He's been living in the municipality for three years, and has seen his house flood twice now. 

"I feel discouraged because this was my place for my retirement, and now it feels like a bad dream," he said.

In St-Jérôme, Que., roughly 50 kilometres northwest of downtown Montreal, water flow above 260 cubic metres per second led the province's Public Security Department to categorize flooding on the Rivière-du-Nord  as "major" on Saturday morning. Officials recorded a flow of around just 64 cubic metres per second on the same river three days earlier.

The department noted "medium" flooding on another four rivers and minor flooding around six other water level monitor stations in the province, including one in the St-Charles River west of downtown Quebec City.

But most reports of flooding were concentrated in Quebec's Laurentian and Lanaudière regions north of Montreal, which received 30-35 millimetres and 35-40 millimetres of rain respectively, between Thursday and Saturday, Environment Canada meteorologist Félix Biron said.

The rural municipality of Chertsey, Que., 45 kilometres north of St-Jérôme, said in Facebook posts Saturday that torrential rainfall had washed out part of a local roadway, submerging two vehicles and cutting some 50 residents off from the rest of the town.

Provincial police spokesperson Eve Brochu-Joubert said the two occupants of one of the vehicles escaped unharmed. Authorities were initially unable to locate the driver of the second vehicle but later found the individual safe and sound.

Chertsey officials expect to repair the damaged roadway by Sunday morning.