A state of emergency has been declared in the western Quebec town of Fort Coulonge as flood waters have started encroaching. While the situation is not at emergency levels yet, Fort Coulonge mayor Pierre Cyr says the measure was enacted to allow for the town to prepare for an expected rise in water levels. “We are expecting the water to go up,” said Cyr. “That’s why we’re making dikes right now because we know we’re going to need them eventually and we won’t have the time to build them if we wait.” As of Monday afternoon, the Ottawa River Regulation Planning Board (ORRPB) said that what levels had risen close to the peak of the 2023 flooding, with water levels at Lac Coulonge measured at 108.75 metres. Cyr says in the last 24 hours, water levels in the town have ticked up at a rate of about one centimetre per hour, and about two metres over the past week. The town of Fort Coulonge has closed some parks due to flooding, limited some roads to local traffic only and erected sand berms along roads parallel to shorelines. “This is the second worst we’ve seen,” says Fort Coulonge resident Martin Leguerrier. “The worst we’ve seen was 2023, because we did move right after the major 2019 flood.” Leguerrier’s street has been partially washed out by water. He has a wall of sandbags lining the front of his yard to prevent waves from passing cars destroying any more of his property. “We have some water coming into the basement, but we have some pumps right now that’s helping, definitely.” The ORRPB says major flood levels have been exceeded in the Lac Coulonge area, with water levels expected to start stabilizing Monday. Still, that’s not stopping resident Abigaelle Drolet from doing what she can to save her belongings. “We just got about 16 cinder blocks so that we could put it under my furniture and raise them. When the water does come in, if it does, the stuff won’t get damaged. Because anything that gets damaged, we have to throw out.” Drolet says she has lived in town her whole life, and fears flood waters could still yet rise higher. “We expect flooding every year. But it’s already to that peak where it normally is the worst we get, and it’s just starting.” Cyr is hoping for levels to stabilize, saying if overflow from the river spills into the town’s wastewater system, more drastic measures would need to be taken. “If we get the waters from the boat rivers in this system, then we’re really in trouble. In the village, we would most likely have to evacuate maybe a third of the lower part of the village.”
