Storm-battered Quebec towns preparing for effects of changing climate
MONTREAL — The windswept archipelago of Iles-de-la-Madeleine used to spend most of every winter firmly encased in the ice of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, protected from the worst effects of winter storms.
But warmer temperatures in recent years mean the surrounding waters are more often ice-free, leaving the eastern Quebec island chain at the mercy of battering waves that eat away at the coastline and put vital infrastructure at risk.
“When I was young and came home to the islands for Christmas, as of January the islands were surrounded, we were trapped in the ice,” Serge Bourgeois, planning director in Iles-de-la-Madeleine, said in an interview.
“Now, the difference is so palpable that we’re more likely to remember winters when there is ice than those when there isn’t.”