68 residents are being transferred to a local hospital, and also a hotel.

The rising water levels of the Gatineau River led to the evacuation of the Foyer Père-Guinard long-term care home in Maniwaki, Quebec, on Friday.

The plan is to transfer the 68 residents to two different locations: 14 people who need more care will be transferred to Maniwaki Hospital, while the remaining 54 will be transferred to Château Log Hotel.

For his part, Benoît Major, Director of Elderly Care Services at the local health authority CISSSO, said, "We will start after breakfast and estimate that by the end of the day we should have transferred all our 68 residents."

Meanwhile, the mayor of the city says the evacuation may last a week or more.

This is not the first time the home in Maniwaki has been evacuated due to flood risks; it also happened in 2017 and 2019.

Major said that repeated evacuations will no longer be a problem once a new long-term care home opens. It is currently under construction and scheduled to open in 2024.

For his part, the mayor of the neighborhood north of Ottawa Gatineau stated to Radio Canada on Thursday evening that there are no plans to evacuate others for the rest of the city.

Francine Fortin said that the town has learned from previous floods and is prepared. The municipality launched the emergency plan on Wednesday and informed residents that some roads may have to be closed.

According to an official spokesperson, the melting rain and snow caused an increase in water in Hydro-Québec reservoirs upstream, and the company must discharge some of this water, and they are doing their best to contain it.

Currently, Hydro-Québec does not expect any danger to Gatineau, Quebec residents, but it asks those living along the Gatineau River to be on alert for the next few days.

Edited by: Dima Abu Khair