Flood zones
In 2011, 25 municipalities in the Richelieu Valley and over 40 in the Montérégie region were affected by flooding. These floods damaged 2,535 principal residences in Montérégie.
In 2017, between the end of February and June 2, flooding occurred in 15 administrative regions, affecting a total 291 municipalities. An unprecedented occurrence!
- Over 5,300 main residences were flooded
- More than 4,000 people were evacuated
- 22 municipalities and 1 agglomeration declared a state of emergency
- Some 400 roads were damaged
In 2019, many municipalities in Québec, Ontario and New Brunswick experienced spring flooding. A third of the municipality of Sainte-Marthe-sur-le-Lac was flooded.
Following these events, special intervention zones (ZIS) were declared by decree in order to allow for better management of flood zones.
The ZIS decree was applied to the areas flooded during the 2017 and 2019 spring floods, as delineated by the Government of Québec on maps posted on the website of the Ministère de l’Environnement et de la Lutte contre les changements climatiques.
The ZIS decree also applies on all 0-20 year flood zones, as determined on June 10, 2019. It is used as a planning tool by County Regional Municipalities (MRCs).
Although a certificate of location presents the state of the immovable as of the date of its issuance, land surveyors don’t automatically indicate whether a portion of an immovable is subject to the ZIS decree.
In addition, it is always possible that the map has changed since the last certificate was issued.
Upon request, the land surveyor can provide the topographical map required for the issuance of a building permit in a Special Intervention Zone or verify whether the lot is located in a flood zone, without necessarily issuing a certificate of location.
Verifications can be made using the Google map on the government website at https://www.cehq.gouv.qc.ca/index_en.asp.
When an immovable is located in a flood zone, certain verifications and disclosures must evidently be carried out.
For more details:
- The training entitled Buying and selling a property located in a flood-prone area offered by the OACIQ presents what the broker needs to do when dealing with this type of transaction.
- A toolkit Flooding: A toolkit to protect the public in future transactions containing a Quick reference guide is also available on synbad.com.
