Three months after Sainte-Marthe-sur-le-Lac was devastated during spring floods, officials are asking residents if they plan to continue living in the town.

A dike protecting the town from the Lake of Two Mountains broke three months ago, prompting the urgent evacuation of one-third of the homes in Sainte-Marthe-sur-le-Lac.

Most of the residents affected were allowed to return after a few days only to discover their homes were ruined and in need of substantial repair.

"It looks pretty nice now... but the scars behind the walls of the houses, you can't descrbie," said resident Dave Nault. 

The widespread flooding this spring, as well as in 2017, prompted the province to update its maps of flood plains, although Sainte-Marthe-sur-le-Lac will not be affected. The provincial government promised in May that the town's dike would be rebuilt to better standards than before.

This is in contrast to most other places affected by floodwaters, where residents will not be permitted to rebuild if the cost of doing so is going to cost more than half the value of the home.

While work on the dike is ongoing and expected to be completed before spring of 2020, town officials want to know if residents were going to rebuild, or would move on and have placed a survey on its website asking just that.

Lorraine Nadon said she has lived in Sainte-Marthe-sur-le-Lac for more than 30 years and has no intention of leaving.

"You work all your life to pay off your house and this is your major investment. So why should I lose money? I don't want to move necessarily, however if I have no choice, if they don't leave me the choice, we'll move. But that's not what we want," said Nadon.

Nault, however, said he will wait for an evaluation before making any decision.

"I don't even have any hopes anymore," he said. "I'm going fishing tomorrow for a couple of weeks and that's all I've got on my mind."

"If there's $200,000 damage on the house, I don't think they're going to give me $200,000 to fix the house. It's a $300,000 house so numbers ain't there."

With reporting from Matt Grillo