Charles Désourdy, big boss of Bromont, montagne d’experiences (BME), also known as Ski Bromont, mentioned in an interview that everything changed on August 9 in the morning. “The Town of Brome Lake panicked at 10 a.m., in the middle of the big storm, and opened the valves on its dam. It created an astronomical flow.”
The businessman claims that “catastrophe” was narrowly avoided. “It was one to twelve. We were hot. Safety at dams [gouvernement provincial] accompanied our teams, with engineers from the City of Bromont to carry out emergency work. For the first time in 60 years, water passed at least a foot over our earthen dike for nearly two hours. It came close to being destroyed.”
Protocol
The big boss of BME, Charles Désourdy. (Archives La Voix de l’Est, Alain Dion)
A few days ago, Ski Bromont mandated a law firm to send a formal notice to Lac-Brome. “As the heavy rains of August 9 were expected by the weather forecasts, our client believes that the town of Lac-Brome should have opened the gates of its dam well before 10 a.m. Our client thus believes that the town of Lac-Brome committed a fault,” we can read in the document, of which The Voice of the East got a copy.
The latter was also sent to the Bromont asset and major projects management department, as well as to two representatives of the Ministry of the Environment and to the Brome-Missisquoi MRC.
It is mentioned in the formal notice that the amount of work carried out to consolidate the dike of Lake Sheffington has so far amounted to $200,000. An amount claimed by Ski Bromont in Lac-Brome.
According to Charles Désourdy, as requested in the formal notice, an interview is planned in the coming days with representatives of Bromont and Lac-Brome. “There is an urgent need to know how we are going to control the flow of the river in the future. […] We want a protocol, not to manage navigation on Brome Lake, but to manage public safety downstream. […] If there is another big burst of water and [Lac-Brome] does the same thing, it will be fully responsible for the damage to our facilities.”
A “question of balance”
The general manager of Lac-Brome, Gilbert Arel, rejects all blame to the City in this matter. “We manage a high-capacity dam according to standards [strictes]. When we opened [le 9 août] the dam at 40%, we were very aware that downstream, there would be impacts, he said in an interview. We know exactly the flow of water coming out of each of our valves. And what we sent wasn’t as significant as the flow that arrived [à Bromont].»
Gilbert Arel underlines, moreover, that the rapid flood of Lake Sheffington could have been caused by multiple sources, in particular water coming from the watershed of the Yamaska River.
The general director of Lac-Brome, Gilbert Arel. (Archives La Voix de l’Est, Alain Dion)
Opening the Lac-Brome dam to such a level is not common, however, concedes Gilbert Arel. “It was a monstrous rain episode. Managing the dam is a question of balance. When we decided to open it, we knew it was the right time. […] What we experienced was boring for Ski Bromont. But, it is exceptional. If we had to do it again, I think we would do the same thing.”
The general manager of Lac-Brome confirmed that he will participate in discussions with Bromont and Ski Bromont to discuss the file. “Should we have better communication channels in the event of heavy rain? Maybe yes. We should talk first, he said. When I send water to Bromont, I don’t know who I’m hurting.”
Bromont declined to comment on the matter. However, it has been confirmed that the director of asset management and major projects, Steve Médou, will attend the meeting with representatives from Lac-Brome and Ski Bromont.
