The Quebec government has announced that municipalities and their residents affected by flooding over the past few days will be able to benefit from general relief.
Public Security Minister François Bonnardel stated on social media Wednesday that "we will quickly implement our general financial assistance program to help affected municipalities as well as disaster victims."
The program offers compensation to owners or tenants living in a flooded residence. The home must be the principal residence to qualify for funding.
People occupying a residence owned by their company are also eligible.
This program can also compensate municipalities for their additional expenses caused by implementing temporary preventive, response or recovery measures.
During the floods last May, the government specified that a municipality is not eligible for financial assistance if it has not adopted a civil protection plan.
FLOOD VICTIMS RETURN HOME
Just under 1,000 Quebecers had to evacuate their homes in recent days, mainly as a precautionary measure, due to torrential rains that caused flooding.
But on Wednesday, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Public Safety explained that the majority of them had returned to their homes.
The water level in the vast majority of rivers is dropping quite quickly. In Sherbrooke, for example, nearly 300 people were forced out; they were able to return to their homes last night. In Sainte-Brigitte-de-Laval, near Quebec City, several hundred people had been evacuated and were able to start moving back in this morning.
"So things are going well," said spokesperson Joshua Ménard-Suarez.
Ménard-Suarez said public safety is continuing to monitor the risk of landslides, and again asked the population to be vigilant.
The risk of landslides increases when soils are waterlogged, as is currently the case.
- This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on July 12, 2023
