Canada province calls in military to help with flood

By Barry Ellsworth

TRENTON, Ont. (AA) – The province of Quebec has called in the military to help with extreme flooding conditions and 400 soldiers fanned out to various areas, Saturday.

Hundreds of residents have been forced to leave their homes with more than 120 communities hit hard by flooding, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) reported.

Western and central Quebec have been deluged by continual rain for days, feeding swelling rivers, creeks and lakes, with similar conditions in vast areas of central and eastern Canada.

Areas are also flooded because the ground heavily saturated with no where for the water to go.

Quebec’s environment minister said Friday that rain was expected to reach record levels through the weekend.

“(It’s) beyond the worst scenarios that have occurred in the last 55 years,” David Heurtel told CTV News.

In Quebec, more than 1,500 homes are flooded and 340 roads affected by rising water levels.

More rain is forecast, as much as 130 millimeters (five inches) and the massive wet weather system that is pelting the provinces of Ontario and Quebec is expected to move into the eastern provinces of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has promised that the federal government will provide aid where needed and that includes the federal Canadian Armed Forces troops that have spread out in Quebec.

The Ottawa River splits Ontario and Quebec, and on the Ontario side the community of Clarence-Rockland declared a state of emergency because of rain levels.

In one instance, a house floated away, held in place only by electrical power lines, the CBC reported.