Montreal drenched in record-breaking rain as tropical storm Debby’s remnants hit Canada
Montreal was drenched in record-breaking rain and hundreds of thousands of homes were plunged into darkness across Quebec as tropical storm Debby‘s last gasps hit eastern Canada on Friday.
“The torrential rains that fell on Quebec yesterday caused flooding in several homes and damage in several regions,” Quebec Premier François Legault wrote on social media Saturday morning.
“The Quebec government supports affected municipalities. My thoughts are with all those who have suffered a disaster or material losses.”
Quebec provincial police in the Mauricie region were searching for an 80-year-old pedestrian after a roadway collapsed and the man was swept into the Batiscan River late on Friday. Emergency services were called to the scene in the municipality of Notre-Dame-de-Montauban at around 11:30 p.m., but police say they are conducting their search with drones because the area is currently inaccessible and dangerous.
Montreal smashed its all-time daily record for rain after it received more than 150 millimetres of rain, with 173 millimetres in the western tip of the island, according to Environment Canada. It broke the last record for rainfall set back in November 1996.
Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante said police, firefighters and work crews were out in full force to help flood victims.
“Several backups have been reported and many cars immobilized by the water have been towed,” Plante wrote on social media Saturday.
“It is a very difficult morning for many Montrealers.”
The heavy precipitation was due to the remnants of tropical storm Debby and a low pressure system that had formed over the Great Lakes.
The downpour flooded homes and roads across the province, while knocking out power for more than 500,000
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