© CHRIS WATTIE/REUTERSA man walks past an abandoned car on a flooded residential street in Gatineau, Quebec, Canada, May 4, 2017. Environment Canada has issued a special weather statement for much of Quebec.
The Quebec government says Canadian Forces personnel have been enlisted to help battle the floodwaters in that province, where the storm is most severe.
More than 130 communities there have been hit by flooding and some 700 people have abandoned their homes.
Environment Canada says a massive system is slowly drenching much of Ontario, the Maritimes and Quebec. Record precipitation levels — with double to triple the seasonal norms for rainfall — have threatened to trigger widespread flooding in those areas.
Rainfall advisories were lifted for Montreal and Toronto early Saturday.
However, elsewhere in Quebec, along the Gaspé Peninsula, Environment Canada warns up to an additional 100 millimetres could fall.
Bridge closure
Much of the suburban community of Île Mercier in Montreal is currently underwater; it has been under an evacuation order since Wednesday. Montreal Mayor Denis Coderre says the city may have to consider forcibly removing the 20 or so householders who have refused to leave.
Deteriorating conditions on the only bridge connecting it to neighbouring Île Bizard have forced its closure.
The army is not yet on the ground in the Montreal area, said Bruno Lachance, a spokesperson for the Montreal Fire Department, but firefighters, police, city workers and volunteers have been dispatched to all affected areas.
In Gatineau, Que., near Ottawa, 379 people have voluntarily left their homes and 309 are being helped by the Red Cross as the Ottawa River rises.
Homeowner Jonathan Brennan told CBC News he'd been working since Monday to prevent his property from being flooded.
"Right now I had to make a decision between pumping outside of my wall that I made or just take care of my basement," he said. "Because people didn't have a chance to prepare, there is old people around, there are abandoned houses that if we had help from the army earlier probably I wouldn't be like this right now."
"It's not that I failed, but I tried so hard. I don't know what to do anymore."
On the other side of the river, the community of Clarence-Rockland declared a state of emergency in anticipation of continuing heavy rain.
Quebec's Environment Minister David Heurtel said on Friday that the rain forecast is "beyond the worst scenarios that have occurred in the last 55 years."
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau promised the federal government was ready to do whatever it can to help people deal with the flooding, and the cleanup to come.
Dozens of homes evacuated
Pascal Quevillon, the mayor of Oka, Que., has declared a state of emergency. He told CBC News that dozens of residences will be evacuated on Saturday.
Several roads are closed, and the town's pumping station, water treatment plant and city hall — where the emergency command centre is located — are all threatened by flooding.
In New Brunswick, emergency officials are concerned about water levels and keeping a close eye on rivers and streams, including the St. John River. Residents are urged to remain on alert as the province prepares for 100 millimetres of rain to fall.
In the southwestern part of the province, residents were warned that nearly a month's rain was expected to fall in 24 hours.
Environment Canada meteorologist Claude Côté said that a significant low-pressure system has prompted rainfall warnings for nearly the entire province. Rain is expected to continue through the weekend, with pulses of heavy rain Saturday night and Sunday evening, he said.
The southwest and Atlantic coastlines of Nova Scotia are expected to receive 40 to 60 millimetres by the end of Sunday.
In their lakeshore home in Stoney Creek, Ont., LeeAnn Lemay and Toni Burke peered out through the back window as the waves from Lake Ontario crashed over the retaining wall onto their small backyard.
Heavy rain has fuelled the high lake levels, sparking concerns about flooding and damage among some southern Ontario homeowners whose houses hug the shoreline of the lake.
Lake Ontario at highest level in years
"I've never seen the lake come this close to the house," said Burke, who has lived in the area, located just outside of Hamilton, for over 40 years. "I have seen storms like this, but the lake wasn't so high.
"The water goes directly right across the street. So both sides of the street get it, it's not just the lakefront."
Next door to Lemay and Burke, the house built much closer to the shore took the full brunt of the waves, as the overflow from Lake Ontario crept into the front yard, flooding the whole area.
"Worst we've ever seen, absolute worst we've ever seen," said Lemay. "I'm concerned about our wall staying sturdy."
Lake Ontario's water levels are the highest they've been since 1993.
With no basement, Lemay and Burke have, so far, been spared any flooding. But with more rainfall on the way there are concerns the water could begin to seep inside the house.
Bill Chornomaz, who works out of a home on the same street as Burke and Lemay, said water has already begun to leak inside.
"People are going to be experiencing flooding no doubt," he said. "There will be basement flooding for sure."
When it comes to flooding, it would seem that many Canadians are unprepared. The University of Waterloo surveyed 2,300 homeowners who live in areas designated as high-risk flood areas. But nearly all (94 per cent) were unaware of that risk.
The study also found that those surveyed did not know recent government policy changes put the onus on homeowners to insure their homes specifically for flooding.
Look at your insurance policy
"Canadians pay $600 million out of pocket for flood damage every year," Jason Thistlethwaite, an assistant professor at the School of Environment, Enterprise and Development at the University of Waterloo, said in a statement. "With disaster-assistance costs expected to double over the next five years, homeowners can't afford to remain in the dark about their options and responsibilities."
Over in Burlington, Ont., where upper income homes on Indian Road dot the Lake Ontario shoreline, Steve Pilon said residents have few options when it comes to preventing flooding.
"If they sandbag the shoreline, it may stop [the water] from wrecking their landscapes," he said.
As he walked along the shore, Pilon, who has lived on the street for 12 years, said the lake levels were "never like this."
"The trees across the Indian Creek are submerged in water. It's never been like that since I've lived here. I don't think they'll survive after that."
Brian Sweet, who has lived here for 30 years, said his dock is underwater, but that the lake level is normally half a metre below that level.
His house is on a hill, so water from the lake won't be able to seep inside his home. Still, he said, he plans to build his retaining wall higher.
"[The water's] never been within two feet of that. And it's going to be raining the next three days," he said. "If [the water] gets another foot higher, the wall might start toppling in which will impact the landscape here."
With files from Mark Gollom and The Canadian Press
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