Solidarity blitz: A huge thank you to all of the volunteers!

Gatineau, June 3, 2019. – This weekend was all about solidarity in Gatineau! Close to 225 volunteers responded to the call for the blitz. Volunteers and close to two hundred municipal employees collected ten of thousands of bags. In addition to the blitz, there were several private and neighbourhood outreach initiatives. Many flood victims had already placed their bags along the road for easy pick-up over the weekend. In the end, thanks to everyone's efforts, thousands of additional sandbags were cleared away. Ville de Gatineau wants to thank all of the volunteers, flood victims and municipal employees who lent a hand on June 1 and 2.

Flood victims who still have bags on their properties can leave them along their property lines by the street up until Friday evening, June 7. They will be picked up by Service des travaux publics crews and taken away in trucks. A bag collection blitz is being organized for June 8 and 9.

Quick facts

●	The solidarity blitz took place where the water had receded.

●	Some properties had a huge amount of bags. We managed to collect all of the bags in several streets.

●	Last week, public works crews, with the help of the military, removed the sandbag dikes protecting our municipal infrastructures, which helped clear away thousands of sandbags.

●	Close to 890,000 sandbags had been distributed, three times as many as in 2017.

●	During the clean-up blitz in May 2017, more than 1,000 volunteers helped over the two days.

●	More than 2,000 flood victims were hit by the spring flood.

●	Residents have turned out to help since the start of the spring flood in April. More than 1,000 volunteers helped fill sandbags on April 19 and 20 at aréna Beaudry.

Special collections of bulky items and construction residues

●	A special collection for bulky items and construction debris is being organized for June 4 to 13. To find out when yours will be collected, go to gatineau.ca/dtritus.

●	Construction and demolition residues must be kept separate from sandbags and household garbage, and placed along your property line by the street.

Reusing sandbags

●	Gatineau will be able to reuse the sandbags for various things, namely as fill when building streets or as abrasive in the winter.

●	Be sure not to use soiled sandbags in children's sandboxes or for gardening.

Images

Video

The solidarity blitz

Associated links

The solidarity blitz

Spring flood (including the map of the affected streets)

Bulky items and construction materials

Composting, recycling

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