Residents who had to flee their homes in the small Quebec community of Sainte-Marthe-sur-le-Lac when a 40-year-old dike burst on April 27 have been assured by the Quebec Environment Minister that a new dike will be built.
鈥淲e will be able to build a stronger dike,鈥 said Benoit Charette at a press conference. 鈥淚t鈥檚 not the solution for all the cases that happened in the last week, but we had to do something special for Sainte Marthe.鈥
Details of the new dike鈥檚 construction were scarce. Charette says he 鈥渃annot give any specific details鈥 and that he wants to protect people first.
Quebec has offered incentives of up to $250,000 for residents to move out of flood zones, but it is undetermined if Sainte-Marthe-sur-le-Lac falls into that category.
鈥淲e don鈥檛 know at this moment if everyone will be able to rebuild their home at the same place,鈥 said Charette.
For residents, clean-up is a daunting task 鈥 local resident Karen Vaage told 麻豆影视 that 鈥渆verything is gone, my life is over here.鈥
鈥淲e were so happy to have this little place,鈥 Vaage said. 鈥淣ow we have nothing, and nowhere to go and I don鈥檛 know what we鈥檙e going to do.鈥