Central and Eastern Canada brace for rain and flooding
Parts of Central and Eastern Canada are bracing for heavy rain and flooding this weekend, with some residents being told they should be ready to leave their homes.
Wonder which areas are expecting the wet weather? Here's a quick look:
Where is heavy rain expected?
- Southern Ontario, including the Greater Toronto Area.
- Ottawa and Gatineau.
- Western Quebec and portions of Montreal.
- New Brunswick.
- Nova Scotia.
When will the rain arrive?
The rain starts Thursday in the Greater Toronto Area and southern Ontario, while in the Ottawa area and Quebec it's expected to start Friday.
On the East Coast, the heavy rains will arrive overnight Friday and intensify over the weekend.
On the other side of the country, severe thunderstorms are rolling into the Vancouver area Thursday night with hail and rainfall possibly reaching 10 to 25 milimetres per hour, creating a risk for flash floods.
Why will the rainfall cause flooding?
In Toronto, the islands are at highest risk for flooding, officials told CBC News. The ground is saturated after weeks of rain and Lake Ontario is at the highest level it's been in years. And that will put big pressure on the city's sewers.
The low elevation and multiple water features on the Toronto Islands mean structures there could be vulnerable to flooding, said Nancy Gaffney, a waterfront specialist with the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority. Approximately 700 people living on the islands have been put on alert about the possible need to leave quickly.
The ground is also saturated in some other parts of southern Ontario expecting heavy rainfall.
Western Quebec has already seen flooding this spring, and several large bodies of water — in the Laval, Outaouais, Laurentians, Lanaudière and Mauricie regions — have already started to overflow.
Even before this weekend's rain, some parts of Quebec had seen record water levels and flooding. As of Thursday evening, Urgence Québec reported that 124 municipalities are affected by flooding, especially in the regions of Montreal, the Montérégie, Laval, Lanaudière and the Laurentians.
For the West Island of Montreal, experts say the combination of rapid snow melt and heavy rains was unusual.
"As a result of this conjunction of rare events, we have an exceptional flooding," McGill University professor Frédéric Fabry told CBC.
For New Brunswick, the areas at risk of flooding are along the St. John River and its tributaries, which could overflow.
