Article content continued

“You’re a bit shocked,” Rose says. “You’re not really listening to what they’re saying . . . then you realize you have to go. So, you go around and pick up a few pieces of clothes, a few t-shirts and then you leave.”

The St. Georges were disappointed at what they perceive as a lack of support from the area municipality of Alfred-Plantagenet. Only on Friday, did the residents receive an offer for sandbags, they said, the very day they had to leave. Beyond services, a note of compassion would have helped.

“It was shocking to see that not one council member came to see us until Friday when emergency services told us to get out,” Rose says.

About nine residents were on the island at the time. Five had previously evacuated. Some are in hotels. One resident was in hospital at the time. The St. Georges are staying with their daughter, France, in Orléans.

They moved here three years ago. Mike is retired but helps out at a local farm. Rose works at the Ottawa Hospital, in administration for the department of psychiatry.

“At least I get free therapy,” she jokes.

“We were living on the outskirts of Rockland on two acres of land with a manicured lawn and whatnot,” Rose says. “We left that to move (here) and I’m doubting myself now, believe me.”

This despite what she calls a “million dollar view,” and access to a swimming pool, tennis court and exercise room.

Presqu’ile only became an “island” in the 1960s when Hydro Quebec raised the water levels in the river (via the Carillon dam) to flood much of the shoreline on both banks.