A spring storm that brought up to 60 millimeters of rain and snow flooded and damaged the homes of many Winnipeggers – leaving some wondering what to do next.
Amber Anderson returned from work early Saturday night to see her entire street flooded in St. Boniface near Eugenie and De Meuron streets.
“My neighbors were trying to move their vehicles and at that moment it was like… to the door,” she told CBC News.
“It’s raining so hard that he just went back to the sidewalks and cars.
When she entered her basement, Anderson saw about 0.6 meters (two feet) of water on the floor and immediately began to draw and scoop up water.
Water was gathering on the side of Amber Anderson’s home, leaking into her basement. (Submitted by Amber Anderson)
“The water was coming in so fast and just running down the side of the house, like I was standing downstairs, literally like a shower faucet,” she said.
Anderson says she was afraid to enter the basement, but when she did, everything was soaked and destroyed, including sentimental items belonging to her daughter.
It wasn’t what he wanted to see after a 12-hour shift at the hospital.
“It’s very discouraging. It sucks, “she said. “It’s a long shift in the intensive care unit and you’ve given everything you can to everyone else at work and you go home and you’re all alone and you have to deal with it all on your own.”
Anderson lives alone and asked his father to drive from Petersfield, Mann. to help, but he left Saturday night to deal with the flood in his own garage, she said.
“I’m literally awake most of the night and I’m just trying to drink everything all the time,” Anderson said.
A city offering sandbags
Anderson says the city needs to be more proactive when it comes to flood prevention by hiring more staff to plow and move the winter snow.
“They can’t have banks in front of our house that are as tall as me, sitting there to flood our property until spring, when it melts,” she said.
In an e-mail statement, the city said sandbags were available 24 hours a day for flood survivors and could be picked up at three locations: 1220 Pacific Ave., 1090 Thomas Ave. and 1539 Waverley St.
A pile of sandbags is visible on 1090 Thomas Ave. in Winnipeg. The city says they are available 24 hours a day. (Peggy Lam / CBC)
Anderson says she tried to take sandbags, but when she arrived at Thomas and Waverley’s place, the bags were torn and shredded.
In place of Thomas on Sunday afternoon, David Locke managed to catch a few for his property.
Locke said his backyard was flooded with about six inches of water up the base, which has not happened since 1997.
Anderson says that when she arrived at Waverley’s place to pick up sandbags, they were all torn and shredded. (Submitted by Amber Anderson)
“That’s what it is,” he said. “What can you do?”
“I’m just trying to soak up the water that’s inside and I just hope it stops soon,” Locke said.
Support through community groups
Anderson says she has found support through community groups online to help her through times of stress.
“We, as a community, have come together to create these groups because there is a general lack of government support,” she said.
Anderson says she has seen neighbors offer their trucks to help get sandbags for others.
“These are the people we go to when we need help, because we know that the city and no one else will come to help us,” Anderson said.
Workers hear the sand at 1090 Thomas Ave. The city says staff are working around the clock to respond to the spring storm. (Peggy Lam / CBC)
The city said in a press release that Winnipeg crews are working hard around the clock to clear ditches, catch pools and gutters so that water can drain more efficiently.
At Kildonan Park, residents were asked to avoid the lake with ducks and all open water areas and to be careful near streams and bridges due to floods from Lord Selkirk Creek, the statement said.
Drivers who encounter stagnant water on the roads must report it to 311, although its call center has a longer waiting time.
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