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north53zone2b

Question for CLBlakey

north53 Z2b MB
10 years ago

Hi Cindy,
On another post you mentioned having experienced fires. May I ask which event that was?
One summer our town had torrential rain that caused widespread sewer back-ups. That was enough of a disaster for me to endure. I can't imagine losing one's entire house and community to fires!

I feel that the homes being shown on the news with water up to the first floor will be pretty much destroyed. It will be tough for those people to recover.

Comments (8)

  • CLBlakey
    10 years ago

    My husband worked at Tolko Louis Creek when his mill burned in 2003. We were very fortunate as we lived in Kamloops and never lost our home. Only the job (but it was our livelyhood and it had taken my husband a year to find that job). However we were surrounded by fire that summer in every direction. I remember looking out the window from work and seeing a mountain right in town going up in flames. I didn't even realized I had suffered trauma until recurring panic attacks in Aug. So many others suffered more than me I kept shoving it down. Once I made the correlation I took a day and looked at the fire books we were given and allowed myself to feel the loss and fear then put it behind me.

    This was the same year as the Kelowna fire.

    The fires are the reason we had to move north there was no work in Kamloops. The first week we were here there was a tornado only F1 but sure freaked me out.

    I watched one video today of someone cleaning their basement after they pumped the water. Looks like a lot of work. I was upset at a news interview with a disaster clean up guy the news girl asked what people could do to prevent mold and more damage and he pretty much skirted the question. Other than get the water out. There are other things as a homeowner people could do to prevent mold - I wanted to scream get the drywall and insulation out!! this exposes the wood frame so it can dry faster an easy thing to do but this guys company would loose money if people helped themselves. They also haven't had much coverage of High River small towns loose out in disasters like this kind of like how Louis Creek was overshadowed by the Kelowna fire.

    I really feel for those in the over looked towns like Black Diamond didn't even hear it mentioned. If it wasn't for GW I wouldn't have know to pray for them.

    stepping off my soap box ...................

  • north53 Z2b MB
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    I don't think you're on a soap box. I totally agree with you. Today I heard a news report about a small town in southern MB that has had 2 separate torrential rain events in a couple of days. It was rain beyond belief, but the newscast referring to the event mentioned the town would be 'mopping up'. Do they realize how seriously people are affected?
    As you mentioned, there's so much more than mopping up that has to happen. When we flooded, the information I found said that you only had a short time to react before mold would form. For us it was more than ripping out drywall and insulation because we have a wood basement. It was a nightmare. But mild compared to what's happening in Alberta. But I do have empathy for them.

    Glad to hear you didn't lose your home in those fires. I only watched the news coverage of those events. It is always hard to watch families losing everything. I always wonder how they cope afterwards. The news moves on to the next disaster; they're not interested in the tough slog for the victims. Good for you in being able to put it behind you. I'll admit I have a panic attack every time water starts gushing into the sump pit. Even though we've done everything we can do to protect ourselves, (back-up valve, sump pump and back up sump pump, plus a generator in case of a power failure) I still feel powerless against mother nature.

    Btw, my Dh works for Tolko also.

  • CLBlakey
    10 years ago

    Hubby no longer works for Tolko as they did not rebuild. He now works in public works water/sewer dept. (So called privately owned - but owned by the city).

    The generator is a great idea we got one 2 years ago after a rainstorm and a power outage we bailed all night and said never again. Up until this house all our drain tile drained into the sewer and we never had a pump to worry about. Now we have backup valves etc to protect ourselves too.

    It would not surprise me if High River has no salvageable buildings with all the muck around. And water and sewer still there. Kinda like Katrina a good chunk of the area has gotten back in order but the french quarter still is a long way off from restoration but we don't hear anything about that. High River people have my heart in this battle.

    Did they have to replace your foundation? I have wondered about wood basements they don't have those in BC that I am aware of. Here they still allow them. I don't get it. (soap box time) With all the new engineering findings you would think they would make an appropriate building code for the area. I don't think code here even puts foundations below frost level. Then the gvmt won't take responsibility. Just makes me cringe at what happened in Ft Mac.

    Here is a link that might be useful: Shoddy Building

  • north53 Z2b MB
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    You won't get any argument about wood basements from me. On the plus side, they are warm and comfortable. But the giant negative is there is nothing to protect you from a water event.
    We didn't replace the foundation. The nightmare I was referring to was the fact that there really is no proper way to deal with such a situation. After conflicting and confusing advice we ended up doing our own thing. We cut holes all over in the floor in order to access under neath. I filled a garbage pail with a bleach solution and used my little sump pump to spray under the floor. I used a compression sprayer to sanitize inside the walls and the floor. We did all the work ourselves, as there was so many homes damaged in our little town, no one could get any contractors. My DH did all the work installing the back - up valve and the setting up the sump pumps to send weeping tile water outside.

    The work was worthwhile doing. Just this last week we had a heavy rain and I heard lots of basements flooded. Ours was fine. But the town was out all night across the street from us pumping out the sewer in front of the lift station, so I knew there was a big problem. I didn't sleep much that night.

    I'm sure many of the High River homes have been destroyed. I feel for them.

  • CLBlakey
    10 years ago

    The good thing about doing it yourself is you know now what is under there.

    Was this the Red River flood?

  • north53 Z2b MB
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    No, I live in a small town in central MB. We had had several heavy rains in a short period of time and around 400 basements were flooded. The town wouldn't accept any responsibility though everyone felt they were negligent. Several key people were on holidays at the time and some things that should have been done weren't.
    We had heavy rain again just last week and I've heard that some basements were flooded again. But this time the town was out doing their best to relieve pressure on the system. At least they tried.

    Yeah, I'm the only woman I know who's been up close and personal with what's under the floor,lol.

  • CLBlakey
    10 years ago

    One area of our town is really bad so they put in a drainage pipe between the yards. A new lift station is on order but I think a lot of houses have problems every year. I suppose they shouldn't have filled in that swamp and build houses. We are very fortunate we are the high house on our street and our windows are a foot above ground. Our neighbor not so lucky his house has windows at ground level and he is lower than us he always has water problems.

    I was on holidays in 2011 when this happened

    Here is a link that might be useful: Not even the bad area of town

  • CLBlakey
    10 years ago

    Looks like hubby might be off to High River with a relief truck next week. Not sure if he will get picked to go or not. Apparently there are a lot of homes that will be bull dozed. And they need help cleaning up the silt. Plus getting the water system back on line. They are completely out of bug dope and with all the water you can imagine how bad it is.

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