Heavy rains cause flooding damage in Ottawa-Gatineau area

The Insurance Bureau of Canada is asking residents in the Ottawa-Gatineau area to check their policies after heavy rainstorms resulted in property damage caused by sewer backup and water seepage.The Weather Channel reports the Gatineau area of Quebec had almost 50 mm of rainfall over a two-day period on June 23-24. Almost 100 mm of rain fell in the Ottawa area over the three-day period between June 23-25, and CBC reported a sighting of an F0 tornado in Ottawa.CTVottawa.ca reported flooding in the Aylmer, Hull and Gatineau areas forced the evacuation of 600 homes. About half of those residents returned to the homes the day after the storms.This is the second time this year the Ottawa and Montreal area was subjected to substantial water damage. About three months earlier, in May 2011, PCS Canada declared a catastrophe in eastern Ontario and Quebec based record-setting rainfall on March 5-7. The rainfall in March resulted in insured losses of $50 million, according to the Insurance Bureau of Canada, citing PCS-Canada data. The losses were roughly evenly spread between the Ontario and Quebec regions.