A spring storm, bringing up to 2 inches of rain and snow, flooded and damaged the homes of many Winnipeggers, leaving some wondering what they should do next.
Amber Anderson returned from work early Saturday night to see her entire street flooded on St. Boniface, near Eugenie and Des Meurons streets.
“My neighbors were trying to move their vehicles and at that point I was already like… up to the gates,” he said in an interview with CBC News.
“It was so much rain that it was just backing up onto sidewalks and cars.”
When he entered his basement, Anderson saw about two feet of water on the floor and immediately began bailing out water.
“The water was coming in so fast and running down the sides of the house, like I was standing under it, literally like a shower faucet,” she said.
Anderson says she was afraid to go to the basement, but when she did, everything was soaked and destroyed, including sentimental items that belonged to her daughter.
It was not what I wanted to see after a 12-hour shift at the hospital.
“It’s very discouraging. It sucks,” he said. “A long shift in an ICU environment and you’ve given everything you can to everyone else at work and you come home and you’re on your own and you have to deal with all of that alone.”
Anderson lives alone and asked her father to drive from Petersfield, Man., to help, but he left Saturday night to deal with flooding in his own garage, she said.
“I’ve literally been up most of the night and continually trying to take it all in,” Anderson said.
City offering sandbags
Anderson says the city needs to be more proactive when it comes to preventing flooding by hiring more employees to plow and move winter snow.
“They can’t have benches in front of our house that were as tall as me sitting there so they would flood our properties come spring when it melts,” he said.
In an email statement, the city says sandbags are available 24 hours a day for residents experiencing flooding and can be picked up at three locations: 1220 Pacific Ave., 1090 Thomas Ave. and 1539 Waverley St. .
Anderson says he tried to get sandbags, but by the time he got to the Thomas and Waverley locations, the bags were open and shredded.
At Thomas’ location on Sunday afternoon, David Locke managed to snag some for his property.
Locke said his backyard is flooded with about six inches of water to the foundation, which hasn’t happened since 1997.
“It is what it is,” he said. “What can you do?”
“I’m just trying to soak up the water that’s in there and hopefully it stops soon,” Locke said.
Support through community groups
Anderson says she has been finding support through online community groups to help her get through the stressful time.
“We have come together as a community to create these groups because there is a lack of government support in general,” he said.
Anderson says she has seen neighbors volunteer their trucks to help get sandbags for others.
“Those are the people we go to when we need help, because we know the city and no one else is going to come to our aid,” Anderson said.
The city said in a news release that Winnipeg crews are working hard to clear ditches, sinkholes and culverts so water can drain more effectively.
In Kildonan Park, residents are asked to avoid the duck pond and all areas with open water and to be careful near streams and bridges due to flooding from Lord Selkirk Creek, the statement said.
Drivers who find standing water on the roads should report it through 311, although their call center is experiencing longer wait times.
Reference-www.cbc.ca