Four weeks after heavy rain washed out two sections of a winding, gravel road linking two west Quebec towns, dozens of homes in between remain virtually cut off, and there are no signs the damage will be repaired any time soon, if ever.

Rushing water washed away two sections of Paugan Road between Low and Poltimore on Oct. 29 and 30, making the 23-kilometre link impassable.

The mayor of the local municipality of Denholm, Gaétan Guindon, said there's no money to repair the washouts.

Initial estimates have pegged the cost of repairing just one of the washed-out sections at as much as $3 million — about double the municipality's entire annual operating budget — if it's determined a retaining wall is required.

This map show the location of the Canavan family farm, in between two washed-out sections of Paugan Road. Their usual route to nearby Low, Que., is marked in red. (CBC) "We don't have any choice," Guindon said. "It's not because we want to. It's because we are put in the situation and cannot do anything."

'Utterly crazy'

But that's not acceptable to the families stuck between the two washouts, some of whom now face journeys of up to an hour for basic services — journeys that used to take minutes.

'It just seems utterly crazy that we can't get a small washout fixed,' says Jimmy Canavan. (Stu Mills/CBC) "It just seems utterly crazy that we can't get a small washout fixed," said Jimmy Canavan, whose 87-year-old father Thurlow is in palliative care at his home on the Paugan Road farm where he's lived since he was a child.

The five-minute drive to nearby Low for medical services, pharmaceuticals and groceries is now a 30-minute detour south through Farrelton, Que.

The drive to take his 10-year-old daughter to school in Poltimore, to the east, is even longer. Because the school bus can no longer make it down Paugan Road, Canavan has to journey down Highway 105 and through Wakefield before turning back north through Saint-Pierre-de-Wakefield.

It's a circuitous journey of about 60 kilometres instead of about 17.

Thurlow Canavan, 87, is receiving palliative care at his childhood home on Paugan Road, where washouts have forced long detours. (Stu Mills/CBC)

Temporary fix

"It shouldn't take long. Why it's gotten so complicated is really beyond the average person," said Canavan.

He believes the washouts could be fixed temporarily, then reassessed in the spring.

If you're having a heart attack, you're dead. - Kent Canavan, Poltimore, Que.

"I have washouts of my own because of the flood, and we just fix it. Patch it, fix it, get it rolling, do bigger work in the spring," he said.

About 15 families have signed a petition calling on the mayor to repair and reopen Paugan Road.

"Frustrating. Very frustrating," said Jimmy's cousin Kent Canavan, a farmer in Poltimore who worries about delays for emergency vehicles.

"If you're having a heart attack, you're dead," he said. "If they're short of money, fix the road now and deal with the money situation later."

Kent Canavan suggests the municipality can at least partially repair the leg of Pauman Road to Poltimore by opening a single lane and controlling two-way traffic with a timed signal light.

Andree Prud'homme, with her 10-month-old son, Alec, worries about possible delays for emergency vehicles. (Stu Mills/CBC) "I would say if you put a rush job on it, traffic would be passing in two days."

Talks with province

For Andree Prud'homme, a new mother whose home on Paugan Road is also cut off, the long detours are worrying.

"It's awful," she said.

Prud'homme said her family would not have moved to the area two years ago had they known the road linking their home to Poltimore, where her parents help care for her 10-month-old son, would be closed.

Mayor Guindon said he's had talks with Quebec's minister of transport to explore having Paugan Road designated as a "regionally important link" for residents of Low, Farrelton, Denholm and Poltimore.

If the province agrees to the designation, the expense of repairing the washouts would fall to Quebec City, rather than to cash-strapped Denholm, whose annual operating budget is only $1.6 million.