Allison Hanes: Climate change hits home in Montreal

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The detritus of Debby litters the curbs of Montreal days after the remnants of the tropical storm barrelled through the region, dumping a month’s worth of rain in a few hours.

Black garbage bags are piled high. Torn-out drywall and sewage-soaked carpets are stacked alongside musty couches. Destroyed boxes of precious keepsakes that were stashed away when basements flooded speak to the heartbreak the storm left in its wake.

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Across the island of Montreal and in neighbouring regions, the scenes are the same. And so are the feelings of sadness, powerlessness and frustration among those who were affected and continue to deal with the fallout.

From the borough of St-Laurent to St-Lin-Laurentides, from Pincourt to Dollard-des-Ormeaux, climate change has hit home in ways that are both predictable and personal.

But people have lost more than mere possessions in the diluvial rains that pounded the city. They’ve also lost their sense of security in their own homes, their trust in public infrastructure and their faith in the systems they rely on to protect them materially and financially in the case of a disaster.

Montrealers had to be rescued when underpasses pooled with water so fast that authorities had no time to set up barricades.

The Île-aux-Tourtes Bridge had to be shut down because the rainfall overflowed in the construction zone. Highway 13 remains closed in Dorval near Trudeau airport.

Those are just a few of the more notable routes that became impassable. Roads were washed out or turned to rivers in communities across Quebec.

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As these catastrophes become more intense, frequent and widespread — and as global warming increasingly plays havoc with weather patterns — our safety nets just can’t catch up. Everyone is overwhelmed, from individual homeowners to city resources to provincial infrastructure to insurance companies.

Whether it’s a basement sump pump or the city’s sewers, highways or bridges, insurance adjusters or demolition crews, all systems are being taxed to their breaking point.

There is talk about resilience and adaptation to cope with the ravages of the climate crisis. But those efforts are no match for the pace of this devastating change.

Montreal is creating sponge parks and streets to absorb runoff from heavy rainfall that can overflow storm drains, but it can’t build them fast enough. Yet there is still pressure across Quebec to build developments on wetlands, woods, fields and other natural spaces, including golf courses, that already serve this critical purpose.

This time, there was flooding in 55 towns and cities. How many will it be next time? Because there will be a next time. It’s not if, but when. What was once the storm of the century, decade or year is now more of a seasonal event.

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Just this summer, we’ve toggled between fire and flood depending on the region of Canada. So far in Quebec, 2024 has been a year of tornadoes and power outages. Rewind to last year, and northern Quebec was sending smoke plumes from wildfires to places as far away as New York City. We barely recover from one emergency before another is upon us.

Insurable losses from climate change exceeded $3 billion in Canada for the second year in a row in 2023, according to the Insurance Bureau of Canada.

These escalating costs eventually get passed along to all of us in the form of higher premiums. But those dealing with the destruction of their homes may get some nasty surprises. Even if they are insured, the fine print of their policies may show not all types of water damage are covered.

And as the price mounts with each cataclysm, the fingers of blame start pointing.

Since this isn’t the first time municipal sewers have backed up into homes, insurers are questioning whether they’ll pay out claims in some cases unless the city fixes the issues. But repairing water mains is an expensive, disruptive and time-consuming job. Municipalities can barely keep up with maintenance. And storms like the one that pummelled Montreal on Friday further weaken strained infrastructure, causing new messes after the fact.

Cities don’t have the resources to pay for all this alone. Yet Quebec is reluctant to foot the bill, only handing over a fraction of the more than $2 billion a year municipalities in the province requested in 2022 to adapt to the climate crisis.

Even if your home wasn’t inundated by Debby, you probably know someone who was affected by one of the recent climate-fuelled disasters.

And if you’re lucky enough to have avoided the impact so far, just wait.

ahanes@postmedia.com

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