Montreal suburb sees three consecutive years of basement floods amid changing climate
A homeowner in Dollard-des-Ormeaux has had to rebuild her basement three years in a row as increasingly intense summer storms flood the area.
For nearly four decades the Dollard-des-Ormeaux neighbourhood on Montreal’s West Island never experienced flooding, but Arlene Thompson-Maclaren has now rebuilt her basement three successive summers—2024, 2025 and 2026—after intense rainstorms. Climate scientists such as Alexis Berg attribute the heightened storm intensity to a warmer atmosphere that retains more moisture, a view echoed by Jean-Luc Martel, who notes that heavier downpours are becoming more frequent.
Aging municipal drainage, originally designed for milder precipitation, struggles to handle the volume, especially as urban development creates more impermeable surfaces, according to Susan Gaskin. Solutions proposed include upgrading sewer capacity, using resilient building materials, and restoring natural green areas to absorb runoff, a strategy championed by Chaïma Ben of the Centre d’écologie urbaine. Homeowners are also advised to maintain backwater valves, gutters and consider sump pumps to mitigate future damage.
Why it matters
Repeated floods highlight how climate-driven storms and outdated infrastructure are straining suburban communities.
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