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“The rise of the selfie and the natural disaster is an extension of that immediacy — that even if we’re not affected by something, I think people feel they are part of it,” Pringle, director of the Innovation Studio at Ryerson, said in an interview. “The negative side of that is when people can’t disassociate good behaviour from what might be harmful or what might get in the way.”

Pringle says the immediacy can have a positive impact when it inspires people to lend a hand. The danger comes from social media attention-seekers who want to put a “flag-in-the-ground” to be part of the story.

Guilbault said while he hasn’t seen anyone climbing on dikes and dams, the fire department wants to prevent onlookers from damaging structures that were built in a matter of days and are under a tremendous amount of water pressure.

Officials also don’t want to have to deal with outsiders should one of the dikes give way, creating an extreme emergency. “Don’t come by if you have no reason to be here,” Guilbault said.

Montreal is currently under a state of emergency until Thursday afternoon.

Because of widespread flooding in various locations, Transport Canada has banned boats in specific flood areas to help first-responders on the shore. The department has also prohibited the use of drones within 9 kilometres of all flooded areas in Quebec.

Asked if the city had considered a designated selfie spot, Guilbault said he didn’t know if it had been discussed. Pringle noted that given the context, it’s not a bad idea.

“It seems somewhat appropriate if you’re dealing with the reality of the times that we live in that’ll cause the least amount of damage,” she said.