Debby dumped 173 mm of rain on this Montreal town. Now, flood victims must clean up

globalnews.ca:

tropical storm Debby battered southern Quebec on Friday, leaving a mess in its wake. It dumped record rainfall on Montreal — with an exceptional 173 millimetres on the town of Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue, where Shattke lives.Schattke has his work cut out for him in the coming days. He tried to salvage what he could, but the flooding surrounded his books and his child’s toys.

Important documents were hung up to dry.“People living here for 25 years in the area say they’ve never seen that,” Schattke said.Soaked carpets were in his hand as he continued to rip them up while he waited to hear back from his insurance company. Piles of black garbage bags, boxes and furniture sat on the edge of Schattke’s lawn.“We haven’t managed to reach the insurance yet in person. We did get to report the damage online,” Schattke said.Schattke is far from alone.

The streets are lined with heaps of ruined belongings from flood-damaged homes.Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue’s Paola Hawa is in the same boat after Debby’s deluge led to an overflow in her own basement. Even with two sump pumps, it wasn’t enough to keep the water out.The north end of the town, which Hawa says sits on clay, was particularly hard hit. Sadness and frustration have set in for many flood victims.“We’re all doing what we can,” Hawa said.

“I’m encouraging people and seeing a lot of people helping out neighbours.”“That’s what builds community, unfortunately, situations like this. And we’ll get through it.”The town immediately organized two garbage pickups this week to help remove trash “as quick as humanly possible,” Hawa added. Streets were also being cleaned Monday to remove the downpour’s residue.While Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue was drenched in just a few hours by the same amount of