Up to 100mm of rain fell on Montreal as remnants of Beryl passed ...

11 Jul 2024

Montreal

A torrent of heavy rain due to remnants of Hurricane Beryl dumped up to 100 millimetres of precipitation on some neighbourhoods in Montreal Wednesday. 

Montreal news - Figure 1
Photo CBC.ca
Heavy rain forced closure of several highways, knocked out lights for thousands

CBC News

· Posted: Jul 10, 2024 4:40 PM EDT | Last Updated: 7 hours ago

Rain floods Montreal roads and traps drivers (again)
Some Montreal roads and highways like the Décarie Expressway looked more like canals or lakes on Wednesday afternoon after the city received 30 mm of rain in an hour.

A torrent of heavy rain due to remnants of Hurricane Beryl dumped up to 100 millimetres of precipitation on some neighbourhoods in Montreal Wednesday. 

According to Environment and Climate Change Canada, different areas of the city received between 50 and 100 millimetres of rain during the passage of the system as of 9 p.m. 

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Photo CBC.ca

The heavy rain caused numerous sewer backups and flooding under overpasses. Portions of several highways also had to be closed due to water accumulation, including the Décarie Expressway, which was closed for over an hour. 

Transports Québec closed the Décarie with motorists stranded in their cars and in their trucks. Its security vehicles were able to remove all stranded motorists by guiding them to the Jean-Talon exit.

Heavy rain forced the closure of stretches of highways in Montreal on Wednesday afternoon. (Benjamin Shingler/CBC)

The weather also knocked out the lights for thousands of Hydro-Québec customers in the Montreal and Montérégie regions. As of Thursday morning, almost 5,600 customers were still in the dark. 

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Photo CBC.ca

A spokesperson for the public utility says it voluntarily interrupted service for those customers at the request of provincial security officials due to the heavy rain, stressing that the outages are not due to equipment failure.

WATCH | The Décarie Expressway has a history of flooding: 

Two massive storms left the Décarie Expressway under water, almost exactly 36 years apart
On July 14,1987, 102.2 mm of rain drenched the city, flooding the city's arterial highway. The improvements made to the expressway since have certainly helped, but they're not enough to prevent significant flooding when the city is hit by major storms.

Written by Sabrina Jonas and Hénia Ould-Hammou with files from Shuyee Lee and Leta Polson

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