Several motorists were left stranded on Sunday night as parts of the highway system near the L'Acadie circle flooded due to heavy rainfall.

Motorists heading off L'Acadie Blvd. onto the eastbound Metropolitan service road around 11:30 p.m. were hit by a wall of water under that overpass, as well as the overpass at Querbes Ave. The service road was closed for several hours as authorities helped stranded motorists and evacuated water from nearby overflowing sewers. The cars and flooding were cleared away by Monday morning.

Witnesses say the water pressure was enough to blow manhole covers off the sewers.

"It was amazing. I was upstaurs and I kept hearing 'bang, bang,'" said witness Leroy Campbell. "So I came down and we saw that. Unreal."

Campbell/>/> said he saw cars flooded up to their windows.

The problem can be blamed on sewers not large enough to handle that volume of water in a short period of time, said McGill University Engineering Professor Saeed Mirza.

"If the sewer is too small, it's a design problem, meaning somebody did not think of how much water would be collected and L'Acadie exchange is at a lower level so it catches water from all around," said Mirza.

Transports Quebec/> said the City of Montreal/>/> is responsible for dealing with the flooding as it is on city property.

Sammy Forcillo, Montreal/>/>'s executive committee member in charge of infrastructure, says a retaining basin is under construction in the area.

Victims of the flood can file damage claims with the city, said Forcillo.