The Minister of Municipal Affairs, Andrée Laforest, has announced financial support of $400,742 for the RCMs of Vaudreuil-Soulanges, Argenteuil and Deux-Montagnes, to help them improve their understanding of flood risk in their territories.

This financial assistance will enable the MRCs to carry out a project to analyze and assess the risks and damage associated with flooding in several of their municipalities' priority areas.

It follows on from the support offered by the Bureau de projets de la rivière des Outaouais Est, set up by the Quebec government as part of the Plan de protection du territoire face aux inondations : des solutions durables pour mieux protéger nos milieux de vie.

"The MRC welcomes this announcement and we are pleased to be able to continue our partnership with the Quebec government and the MRCs of Argenteuil and Deux-Montagnes. We are particularly proud of our professionals, who are recognized nationally for their extremely detailed knowledge of flood-prone areas and the territory," said Patrick Bousez, Prefect of the Vaudreuil-Soulanges MRC.

The project has three main components:

- analysis of territorial vulnerability and accessibility of areas exposed to flooding;
- calculation of direct damage to the residential stock of homogeneous sectors exposed to flooding;
- analysis of data concerning the impact of flooding on bank erosion in the municipality of Pointe-Fortune, and analysis of potential resilience solutions for the village core sector of this municipality.

The project will complement work to update flood zone mapping in the territories of the three MRCs concerned.

"The information gathered and the data relating to the territory are essential and necessary in the development and implementation of our municipalities' civil protection and land-use planning action plans," added the prefect.