A helicopter hovers over the site where a body was found after flooding in Baie-Saint-Paul Que. on May 3.Jacques Boissinot/The Canadian Press
Quebec provincial police say two bodies have been recovered in a region northeast of Quebec City devastated by flooding where two volunteer firefighters were swept away during a rescue mission on Monday.
Police spotted the first body in the Rivière du Gouffre just before 10 a.m. on Wednesday from a helicopter, Sgt. Beatrice Dorsainville told reporters, adding that they would wait for a coroner to confirm the person’s identity.
Later in the afternoon, Sgt. Dorsainville told reporters the second body was recovered about 500 metres from where the first body was found.
Police said formal identification of the two people found will be made by a coroner.
Multiple media have reported that the two missing firefighters were Christopher Lavoie, 23, and Regis Lavoie, 55, who were reportedly not related.
More than 90 millimetres of rain has fallen since Saturday on St-Urbain, about 100 km northeast of the capital city, Environment Canada said. More than 60 mm of rain has fallen on nearby Baie St-Paul, where officials declared a state of emergency earlier this week and where about 600 people had been forced from their homes.
Flooding was also reported in the Lanaudiere and Laurentians regions, and in western Quebec. The ministry of Public Security said a half-dozen communities across the province had declared states of emergency due to the heavy rains.
“It’s devastating,” said Gaston Duchesne, 67, municipal councillor and deputy mayor of Baie St-Paul, in an interview. “When you have four feet of water in your basement, or even more, then you come home and then you have to take everything out and throw it in the trash. It’s quite worrying and disturbing.”
He said even homeowners who would be compensated still “lost a lot of personal stuff.” With the clean-up work that needs to be done, “it’s major inconveniences that no one would have wanted to suffer,” he added.
Mr. Duchesne, who has lived in Baie St-Paul for the past 60 years, said he had not seen flooding this bad since at least the 1970s and he was worried about what climate change would bring to his community.
Still, “the population is very resilient,” he said, adding that volunteers flocked to help. “For a region like ours, it is more than important, and people feel supported in the adversity.”
Carla Martinez, manager of the La Muse Inn, in Baie St-Paul, agreed. “Everyone wanted to help,” she said. And La Muse contributed, too, hosting people who lost their homes in the floods, she said.
Earlier Wednesday, Quebec Premier Francois Legault visited the area, where flooding has washed out roads and left homes isolated. He spoke about the missing firefighters, one of whom he said was a man in his 50s who took his own boat to help a couple whose home was surrounded by water. The other man, Legault said, was “a young boy of 23 years.”
“Twenty-three years,” Legault repeated after a short pause. “It’s an infinite sadness.”
Legault asked people not to rush to judgment about the cause of their deaths. Firefighters and first responders, he said, “do an essential but risky job. Obviously, we try to minimize these risks as much as possible, but we can say thank you for their courage.”
Psychological support and financial aid would be offered to residents of the area, he added.
Legault toured the damaged town and spoke to residents who told him they were given five minutes to evacuate. Some people asked the premier what aid would be offered, explaining that their insurance didn’t cover flood damage.
Government officials were scheduled to meet with residents Thursday evening to explain the available government programs to help people relocate, repair damaged homes or replace property.
With a report from Frédérik-Xavier Duhamel in Montreal.