Quebec premier François Legault defends response to Debby downpour

Quebec Premier François Legault is defending himself for not having visited flood-stricken communities until almost one week after torrential rain flooded basements and washed out roads across the province.

The premier spoke to reporters for the first time Thursday morning since last Friday’s rainfall during a visit to Louiseville, Que., a hard-hit municipality northeast of Montreal.

Legault says his priorities were restoring power to the 550,000 customers who were left in darkness after the downpour and fixing damaged roads that left hundreds of houses isolated.

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The premier also hinted he may expand eligibility for government funding for people whose homes were damaged by flooding.

Louiseville Mayor Yvon Deshaies has been calling for the army to help the cleanup effort in his community.

But Legault says the army isn’t needed to recover from the storm, which dumped up to 200 millimetres of rain within 24 hours last week.