Water levels receded in the Richelieu Valley overnight and the number of Canadian military in the area doubled to 500 soldiers Tuesday, but that was just about where the good news ended for the residents of the flood-ravaged area.

Tuesday also brought news that the soldiers who are in the area to help ward off the flood waters will be leaving as soon as the water does, leaving the clean-up effort to the already wearied flood victims and area volunteers.

A letter from Public Safety Minister Vic Toews suggests that placing sandbags might be part of the military's role -- but removing them isn't part of the job description.

The Quebec government, which received the letter dated May 20, forwarded the correspondence to reporters Tuesday.

It was released on a day of growing anger and finger-pointing over the emergency response to the floods, which have affected 3,000 homes and forced 1,000 people to be evacuated.

The release of the correspondence was meant to prove that the Quebec government -- which is being questioned for its performance -- had actually requested federal help in a timely manner.

Toews deems cleanup request inappropriate

In the letter, addressed to Quebec's public security minister, Toews wrote that he would not even take the formal steps to transfer the Quebec cleanup request to Defence Minister Peter MacKay.

Toews wrote that he and MacKay had already chatted and agreed Quebec's cleanup request was inappropriate.

"As you can appreciate the role of the Canadian Forces is principally based on defence activities and, as a result, they must maintain a capacity to act in that regard when events occur in other provinces or overseas," Toews told Robert Dutil.

"Furthermore, the services you're asking for -- if they were authorized -- would place the Canadian Forces in competition with the private sector, at the local or provincial level, which could perform this type of repair work."

The defence minister issued a statement Tuesday defending the federal handling of the disaster.

MacKay - who will tour the flood-stricken areas on Wednesday - said the Canadian Forces have maintained a presence in the Monteregie region since May 4. Army personnel and equipment arrived within eight hours of receiving a request for assistance from the Quebec government, he said.

"Within 24 hours of the provincial request, approximately 500 personnel were providing flood mitigation support to local authorities," said the statement.

"At the height of this relief effort, the Canadian Forces had over 840 personnel involved in this mission. . .

"The Canadian Forces will continue its mandate to assist civil authorities in responding to this emergency until its personnel and unique capabilities are no longer required."

Charest defending his actions

In the Quebec legislature Tuesday, Premier Jean Charest fended off a series of questions from his Parti Quebecois rival, Pauline Marois.

The opposition leader accused Charest of responding erratically to the disaster. She also wondered aloud whether she should be blaming Ottawa instead.

Charest explained that his government had made several requests to the feds.

Charest added: "I'm not looking to blame anyone. I'm looking to help the population which, right now, is going through a very difficult moment."

While he has not promised to compensate people for 100 per cent of their losses, Charest has agreed to enrich existing disaster-aid programs for homeowners and businesses.

Political bickering of little concern to residents

The deployment of 250 additional soldiers who arrived to help Tuesday came as water revels rose again one day prior due to strong winds from the south pushing water from Lake Champlain into the Richelieu River.

But the reprieve of receding waters overnight looks as thought it will be short-lived, as more rain and more southerly winds are being forecast between Thursday and Saturday.

It has residents at their breaking point.

"We've had it up to here," St-Blaise-sur-Richelieu native Jean-Yves Bourque, who has 20-pound carp swimming on his front lawn, told CTV Montreal's Rob Lurie. "We're constantly in the water and we'd like it to end."

At nearby St-Paul-de-l'ile-aux-noix, Richard Peloquin has 20,000 sandbags protecting his home, and they fighting a losing battle against the invading waters. He has emptied the contents of his basement upstairs, and he's run out of space.

"I have seven kids, so I'm lucky I have a staff to help me," he said. "The nights I'm not sleeping because I watch. I protect my house."

That kind of stress has led to medical concerns, and area health officials are offering free counseling services because people are beginning to experience troubling symptoms like chest pains.

And with rain looking to be on its way in with the military shortly on its way out, matters may be getting worse before they get better,

"I can't even get my camper out of the driveway, it's stuck, so I have no house, no RV," Charles Benard said, exasperated. "We're just fed up. All we do is pump water out of the house and we never get it all out. We saved our whole life for this, and we're losing everything."

With files from The Canadian Press