Riviere Beaurivage: high level of surveillance

(Québec) An overflow of the Beaurivage River forced the City of Lévis to evacuate some thirty residents on a proactive basis on Tuesday morning. At the end of the day, the authorities feared that the situation would escalate to force other evacuations, due in particular to a jam that threatened to yield.

The City made this decision as a result of rapidly rising water levels. “With the warmth we had on Monday, it’s as if we had received 25 millimeters of rain,” says Gaétan Drouin, Assistant Coordinator of Emergency Measures in Lévis.

The residences affected by the preventive evacuation are located on Oscar-Carrier, Marcel-Roussel, Boucle and part of the Sainte-Anne West road. The bridge on Highway 171 was also closed to allow an ice breaking operation with mechanical shovels as the ice appeared.

The City opened an emergency center in the Étienne-Baillargeon room at 4119, route des Rivières, in the Saint-Étienne-de-Lauzon area. A dozen people went there. The streets affected by the evacuation remained closed to traffic.

A frog, an amphibious vehicle, was also used Monday evening and then Tuesday to break the ice cover downstream as well as upstream of the bridge of the 171. “Currently (Tuesday afternoon), the area of ​​the village of Saint-Étienne Is in open water. But there is still a mass of major ice upstream towards Saint-Gilles. And as there are always ice movements, we must remain vigilant, “says Drouin.

He forecast that the flow of the Beaurivage River would increase to 300 cubic meters / sec by Wednesday night, while the maximum flow rate before reaching the minimum flood threshold is 216 cubic meters.

Wednesday’s day will be decisive for the continuation of things, anticipates the deputy director. “Another 25 millimeters of rain will be announced in the next 36 hours and the temperatures will oscillate between 0º and 11º. We would have liked colder temperatures at night to avoid runoff. So we need to be more focused. ”

Close

“We had an information session with citizens last March. This year, water level probes were connected to a remote control with a call machine. This allows us to inform the population according to the different phases, “explains Drouin.

We’ve been watching since Friday. The automaton was switched on for the wake-up and pre-alarm phases before the preventive evacuation was started on Tuesday morning. The goal is to allow a safe evacuation, dry feet ideally, “he concludes.