Mental Health & Flooding
How do we carry on when a climate-related disaster leaves our day-to-day lives and psychological well-being in disarray? That’s what a group of PhD students in pharmacy at the Université de Montréal was trying to learn when they went to Sainte-Marthe-sur-le-Lac to meet with people who were affected by the floods in 2019.
On April 27, 2019, the embankment that was holding back the Lac des Deux Montagnes gave out and flooded a neighbourhood in Sainte-Marthe-sur-le-Lac in the Lower Laurentians. Three years later, the group has returned to the affected area to see how the community is doing, given that it had very little time to recover before having to deal with the constraints of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The students’ work received support from the Canadian Red Cross, the leading partner in assisting public authorities when disasters strike in Québec. They also had the support of Ms. Suzie Bond, a professor of psychology and mental health at TELUQ, and an expert in post-traumatic disorders.
“These people have been through a veritable post-traumatic shock and remain stuck in all sorts of ways,” says Arrani Thambimuthu, a pharmacy student working at St. Mary’s Hospital Center (SMHC) and part of this study group.
Among their conclusions, adds Ms. Thambimuthu is that “the surprising part is that most of them are still dealing with the aftermath of this disaster […] but simply do not want to hear about it anymore. They are exhausted by all the administrative processes involved in applying for compensation, relocation, financial issues, and other major changes. It’s a lot to deal with.” Many are feeling discouraged, exhausted, and believe that they have not received adequate help and support.
The doctoral students’ assessment of the community residents’ overall condition also showed that “residents of Sainte-Marthe-sur-le-Lac show the highest levels of post-traumatic stress symptoms (48.9%) when compared with people who have experienced flooding elsewhere in Québec (39.2%)” (Une vague de résistance, 2023).
To learn more, see the toolkit prepared by the Une vague de résilience project, which is intended for those who want to express themselves on the aftermath of this natural disaster or on flooding issues.
To learn more about mental health and climate-related disasters:
- Impacts des inondations sur la santé mentale des Québécois : pourquoi certains citoyens sont-ils plus affectés que d’autres? - Mon Climat, Ma Santé (monclimatmasante.qc.ca) (FR only)
- Climate Change and Public Health Factsheets - Canada.ca
- Inondations 2019 : des impacts psychosociaux importants, mais évitables - Actualités - Université de Sherbrooke - Université de Sherbrooke (usherbrooke.ca) (FR only)
- Quand les changements climatiques irritent la santé mentale… - Mon Climat, Ma Santé (monclimatmasante.qc.ca) (FR only)
From left to right: Liam Masley, Josiane Dumont, Céline Zakko, Rania Bakhti, Marina Morgan, Arrani Thambimuthu, Emmanuel Pantazis, Felicia Cappuccilli.