City of Montreal, insurers question future of basement apartments after floods [Video]

Pasquale Monaco says he’s debating whether to keep renting out the two-bedroom basement apartment of the Montreal building he owns after it was flooded — again — in August, when the remnants of tropical storm Debby sent four feet of water rushing into the space.

Monaco says the basement of the five-unit building in the St-Leonard borough has been flooded eight times in the last five years, including five times with more than three feet of water.

“I don’t feel right renting it to anyone because I already know that down the line they’re going to lose everything they have,” he said in a phone interview.

Last week, in comments to Montrealers whose homes had been flooded, a member of the city’s executive committee said that living in basement apartments may eventually become a thing of the past — at least in some places.

“I think that in the future …