Road and school closures: What you need to know about the floods

While the city of Montreal has been largely spared severe flooding so far, municipalities off-island have been hit by huge amounts of water, forcing people out of their homes by the thousand over the weekend.

More than 6,000 homes have flooded, and more than 10,000 evacuations carried out as of Monday evening.

Here's what you need to know.

Schools open again

The Marguerite-Bourgeoysschool board in Montreal announced thatSaint-Grardprimary school inPierrefonds will finally reopen Wednesday.

The area has been closed to traffic and a release from the Education Ministry said the school would be closed because flood waters could reach part of the school yard.

TheSeigneurie-des-Mille-les school board reopened schools and daycare service Tuesday. However, bus service is limited to areas not affected by the flooding.

GalipeaultBridge closed

Earlier on Saturday,Quebec's Transport Ministry shuttheGalipeaultBridge, which connects Montreal tole Perrotalong Highway 20, in both directions.

It's unclear when the bridge, which crosses over theSainte-Annerapids,will reopen.

Motorists can stilltakeHighway 40 to the north, throughVaudreuil-Dorionto Highway 30 as an alternate route. The tolls on Highway 30 have been cancelled for the time being.

A plan is in place to offer free commuter rail service on theVaudreuil-Hudson and Saint-Jrme EXO lines.This is expected to continue until the bridge reopens.

Ministry keeping close eye onle-aux-Tourtes bridge

Considering the high water levels from the Lake of Two Mountains, the Transport Ministry is constructingtemporary dikes along the approach to the le-aux-Tourtesbridge.

Crews are building up the sides to prevent the rising water levels from threatening that bridge, but they say the bridge is currently safe and not at risk of closing.

For Monday morning, all three lanes heading into Montreal will be open during rush hour.

More rain in the forecast for Montreal

• Wednesday May1: Rain. High plus 5.
  
• Thursday May2: Clouds with breaks. High 12. Sixtyper cent chance of showers overnight.
  
• Friday May3: Cloudy with 60 per cent chance of showers. High 13.
  
• Saturday May4: Cloudy with 60 per cent chance of showers. High 16.

State of emergency extended

The island of Montreal and Laval remain in states of emergency, a measure giving authorities the power to seize property and force evacuations.

So far thousands of people across Quebec have been forced to leave their homes due to encroaching flood waters.

InSainte-Marthe-sur-le-Lac, located justnorthwest of Montreal, more than 5,000 people had to flee their homes aftera 50-metre section of a natural dike holding back the Lake of Two Mountains breached Saturday evening.

Officials also carried out preventive evacuations in some sectors in Pierrefonds and le-Bizardover the weekend, and authorities in Laval ordered the evacuation of 22 buildings onl'le Verte.