Two Quebec women among the many affected by Texas flooding

The Crown prosecutor’s office in Quebec called Tuesday for a criminal inquiry into corruption allegations made by the head of Montreal’s police union against the Quebec Liberal party. (Photo: mararie/Flickr, CC BY-SA 2.0)

HOUSTON — Two Quebec woman are among the thousands of people caught up in the flooding in Texas caused by Hurricane Harvey — one who can’t leave her home and one who has no idea when she can return home.

Emilie Lapointe lives in the Houston area, and like many others in the city, she has been confined to her house since the flooding began last Friday.

“I left work Friday at dinner time, before the flood began, and I have not been out of my house ever since,” she told the French service of The Canadian Press on Monday.

She said even though her neighbourhood has been spared the flooding, she can’t go to work because the area where her office is located is flooded.

Lapointe also said even of she wanted to go out, it would be impossible to go far.

“My neighbourhood is not flooded, but all around it is flooded, so I can not go anywhere. All I do is watch TV to watch the news,” she said.

Lapointe said tornado alerts have been issued by authorities “almost every half hour” over the past few days.

“Our cell phones are ringing at all times and there are alerts on TV.”

Lapointe said although she still has electricity and supplies of water and food, it’s a “scary” situation. But she believes the worst is over.

Fellow Quebecer Marie-Ange Saint-Laurent — who lives on the 27th floor of a Houston condominium — said she and her American spouse left Houston before the storm for a Louisiana vacation but can’t get back home because the airport is closed.

“Our apartment is OK, the only problem is that the first floor of the building is flooded and the elevators have stopped working,” she said.

Saint-Laurent, who has lived in Texas for almost three years, said she doesn’t how long she will have to stay in New Orleans or what the next few days will be like for the people of Houston.

“Each millimetre of falling rain adds additional problems. We live from day to day and we watch the newscasts,” she said.