EDITOR'S NOTE: This story has been updated to reflect more accurate information.
It’s been a week since their homes flooded, and Cavendish Drive residents have no idea when they will be able to return to live in them.
Residents showed BurlingtonToday staff the disaster that remains of their living rooms, family rooms, basements, storage areas and backyard pools. It’s a sad, incredible scene, reminiscent of Hurricane Katrina’s impacts in New Orleans, not one that you’d expect to find in Burlington.
On July 15, approximately 65 mm of rain fell in three hours with more rain coming on Tuesday morning. Cavendish Drive, south of Upper Middle Road experienced significant flooding. Rambo Creek, which runs under Highway 407, overflowed.
Locals have pitched tents on their front yards for some relief from the elements, in between tossing away destroyed valued mementoes, and piling their comfortable sofas and chairs at the side of the road for disposal.
Dana and Craig Belliveau were looking forward to a vacation to Scotland and Ireland to watch their daughter at her first overseas Irish dancing competition in August. They had to cancel that trip to sort through what remains of their possessions, losing nearly half their home's belongings to the floods.
It took nine minutes for her basement to fill to the ceiling on Tuesday morning – and that’s after the first time it flooded on Monday (July 15). In total as of July 24, 869 homes reported flooding in Burlington. In the 2014 flood, there were nearly 3,000 homes impacted. This year's flood victims on Cavendish Drive were not impacted 10 years ago. Several homes on Mountain Grove Avenue and Cheviot Ct. in Ward 3, did experience flooding in 2014.
Belliveau's son and daughter tried to scramble to get items out of the home, but they quickly realized it wasn’t possible.
Instead, today (Tuesday), precious childhood keepsakes and ruined frames with family photos are piled at the street to be picked up by garbage collection crews, who are working regularly in the neighbourhood.
They’ve been told they have no insurance coverage for flooding – the same answer many of the dozen or so in that specific area of the city have been told.
Dana said she managed to pull out handfuls of storage bins from the crawl space under their downstairs family room, but most of the items were destroyed by a mixture of the storm water and sanitary sewage that backed up when the floods occurred.
All of her Christmas decorations are garbage - hand-painted glass bulbs that didn’t make it, along with toys and clothing, meaningful tokens of her children’s childhood.
Most of the residents also had to take emergency time off of work to deal with the situation, as they scramble to find a place to live, shower, sleep and clean out their homes.
But it’s not all bad news.
The neighbours are in good spirits. They’re keeping each other going with laughter, hugs, and tears, propping each other up as needed at any given time.
Josh and Ramona Canney said their home backed up with sewage that you can still smell. They haven’t been told when or even if they can return home.
Others are sleeping on couches of neighbours up the street, and in some cases, people they only knew from seeing them walk the street. Now, they’re all friends, with everyone helping rip out drywall, carpeting, flooring - right down to the subfloor, stairs, and furniture.
Ramona said she’s having a hard time getting her insurance company to even return phone calls.
“It’s frustrating and disappointing,” she said. “The insurance has been a nightmare.”
Others said they would appreciate assistance in the form of generators or high-powered fans to air out the stench of sewage permeating from their lower levels.
Furnaces, air conditioners, hot water heaters, appliances, televisions: it’s all garbage.
Azra Smith and her family have lived on Cavendish since 2009, and she’s now living with her mom in Brantford, commuting daily to clear out the remains of her lower level.
“I’m depleted and exhausted,” she said, adding it’s difficult to keep track of the days.
She's appreciative of the local support she's experienced, and - an avid scrapbooker - she was thankful she could rescue her many family scrapbooks. The paper supplies, and accessories are sadly destroyed, however.
“Joe Dog’s, for example, provided gift cards to the residents. Other people on the street have come by with ice for their coolers (their fridges are all not operable), drinks, food, meals, even cupcakes.
“There’s clearly more positive than negative,” she said. “Cookies, cupcakes, food. These little things all add up and it’s better than nothing.”
Azra said a neighbour laundered two family quilts damaged by the floods.
“We’re now flood sisters,” she joked.
Another local came to the area to cut the lawns on the flood victims and ended up doing seven yards in one day.
Even ward 3 councillor Rory Nisan has set up temporary shop on the front lawn of 2045 Cavendish Dr. where he invites residents to drop by to share concerns or ask questions. He had a line of folks waiting to speak to him on July 23.
Since the floods that affected a huge number of properties in 2014, the City of Burlington has invested $20M in stormwater infrastructure.
