Water levels on Ottawa River expected to peak as spring flood concerns grow

 

Water levels along the Ottawa River are expected to peak late Monday evening or Tuesday, with dozens of homes and streets in Gatineau at risk of flooding.

At the peak, the river is forecast be roughly 30 centimetres higher compared with late last week, Gatineau Mayor Maude Marquis-Bissonnette said in an interview Monday. Emergency teams have been deployed to monitor conditions and support residents, the mayor said, adding that 165 homes are at risk of flooding and 41 streets have been closed.

Across the country, several communities are also dealing with spring flooding. In Quebec, Ontario, and New Brunswick, officials are monitoring rivers closely, with some areas already reporting minor to major flooding, states of emergency, and preventive measures such as evacuations.

The most affected areas in Quebec are the Outaouais, Laurentians, Lanaudière, and Quebec City regions, as well as a few municipalities in the Montérégie region south and east of Montreal, said Vincent Duquette, civil safety adviser for Quebec’s Public Safety Department. 

Provincial data indicates there is one case of major flooding in Quebec, in the municipality of Fort-Coulonge in the province’s west. Nine moderate floods and 25 minor floods have been reported, while 20 waterways are being monitored.

In Quebec City, a storm surge warning is in effect, with higher-than-normal water levels expected along the St. Lawrence River at high tide.

Meanwhile, a flood map from the Ontario government showed that northern and central parts of the province remained under flood warnings as of Monday.
In Minden Hills, Ont., officials said Sunday that the town was under a state of emergency and more than 25,000 sandbags had been filled and picked up in the community.

Jill Dunlop, Ontario’s minister of emergency preparedness and response, said early Monday she will be visiting Minden later in the day, and the government is helping to co-ordinate assistance with local authorities.

“Groups like Global Medic have been there with the sandbagging machine, the search and rescue have been there doing wellness checks, they set up an evacuation centre,” she said Monday morning.
“We’ll continue to assess the situation and deploy whatever resources those communities need to support them.”

In West Nipissing, Ont., which was also under a state of emergency Monday, officials said crews were patrolling flooded areas, and several roads were closed. Elsewhere, officials in Mindemoya, Ont., said a water advisory remained in place as flooding risked compromising the town’s community water system.

”The good news is that we don’t have a major system on the way,” said Environment Canada meteorologist Guillaume Perron, speaking on rainfall forecasts for Quebec and Ontario.

Officials in New Brunswick’s capital, Fredericton, closed several trails Monday as Saint John River levels rose faster than forecast, the city said in a statement. The province is forecasting flooding in both Fredericton and nearby Gagetown on Tuesday.

In Gatineau, Marquis-Bissonnette explained that hydrometric stations, field data, and aerial surveillance are being used to track river levels, while crews continue door-to-door outreach in vulnerable neighbourhoods. She said the situation remains comparable to 2023 flood levels, referring to the major spring flooding that year used as a recent benchmark for severity and impact.

Marquis-Bissonnette said the peak is expected either Monday night or Tuesday, after which conditions could stabilize depending on weather patterns.

According to Environment Canada, cooler temperatures in Quebec and limited rainfall in the coming days are expected to ease pressure on river systems. Recent flooding has been driven by a combination of rainfall and rapid snowmelt, Perron said.

“The peak is essentially now or very soon,” Perron said, noting that water levels should begin to gradually decline once inflows decrease.

However, snow remains in higher elevations north of the province, including parts of the Laurentians and Mauricie, said Perron, adding, ”we still have about forty to fifty centimetres of snow; we will need to keep an eye on that when it melts.”

Quebec Premier Christine Fréchette said Sunday during a news conference in St-Eustache, in the Montreal area, that flooding is becoming an “increasingly common occurrence” in the province because of climate change.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 20, 2026.

—with files from Eli Ridder in Fredericton and Rianna Lim in Toronto