The Quebec Public Security has issued a risk alert for dam failure in the Red River sector, downstream from the Bell Falls Dam and up to the Ottawa River and Grenville-sur-la-Rouge.
“The water is already over the dam,” said Francis Labbé spokesperson for Hydro Quebec said in a press conference. “However, it has been designed to retain a millennial flood and we know that we will reach an even higher flood. Theoretically, we could reach a water pressure for which this dam was not designed.”
“Many of our engineers are confident that the dam will hold up, […] but out of respect for the Dam Safety Act and out of respect for people, we will take no chances,” he continues.
