Water levels continue to rise and residents of Mississippi Mills are running out of options.
“More often than not we have some flooding to deal with, but nothing this extreme,” says long-time resident Kate Townend.
Several homes along Birch Point Lane have been already been evacuated. With water possibly rising another 20 centimetres on Wednesday and not peaking until the weekend, more might have to leave.
“They need some help, that’s the bottom line,” says Townend’s son Gerry.
The flooding has continued to worsen, especially over the last three days. Residents have been sandbagging for weeks, but are running out of steam.
“It's sort of discouraging because we're all older down here and the old bodies are starting to get tired,” says Mary Ellen Doig.
The entire Mississippi River watershed is under a flood warning. Some of the worst flooding to ever hit the area happened in 1998, but this year could be worse.
“When we built our place down here in 2003, we went according to the guidelines that were given to us at that time that puts us above the 98 level, but we're just holding our own right now,” Doig adds.
A state of emergency has not been declared in the area yet. Some residents say they see the military helping in other parts of the region and believe they could use that help too.
Members of the Canadian Armed Forces remain in Gatineau to help those who might need it, including evacuations and first aid.
Meanwhile, thousands of volunteers have been helping fill sand bags across the region since the Easter long weekend. People like Phillipe Mireault, who’s been filling sand bags and delivering them to homes around Gatineau.
“I was living in Gatineau back in 2017 and it flooded so everyone helped out,” he says. “So this is to give a little back.”
The City of Gatineau says volunteers have already help fill nearly 576,000 sand bags.
