Residents, municipalities deal with flooding aftermath

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Author of the article:

Taylor Campbell

Susie and Craig Weir place flood damaged items at the front of their Maplewood Drive home in Lakeshore on Monday, July 19, 2021. The couple’s finished basement was destroyed by flooding. Photo by Dan Janisse /Windsor Star

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Craig Weir spent his weekend tearing apart the soggy remains of a sewage-soaked basement that took months to finish but only hours to wash away.

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The 49-year-old Lakeshore resident’s home flooded Friday when more than 100 millimetres of rain drenched the municipality in less than a day. Three of his blended family’s six children — two university students and one going into grade 12 — are now sleeping on air mattresses in shared spaces upstairs, having lost their basement bedrooms to the flood.

“As it was coming in, it was a sense of urgency to save as many personal belongings as possible, and try to minimize the damage as best as I could,” Weir told the Star on Monday. “It got to the point where human feces came out of the sewer drain — then I told everybody to get out of the basement.”

Ankle-deep in water, the family was able to save most things of sentimental value, which were stored on shelves. A few yearbooks, bedding, dressers, baseboards, doors, flooring and more had to be trashed. The biggest issue, said Weir, who bought the home with wife Susie in 2019, is the displacement of the kids who have lost their personal space.

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“I can sit there and cry about it, or I can do something about it. So I decided to just get started and rip up my basement.”

Days after a huge rain Craig Weir was still cleaning up a section of his flooded basement at his Maplewood Drive home in Lakeshore on Monday, July 19, 2021. Photo by Dan Janisse /Windsor Star

The rainfall prompted the Municipality of Lakeshore to declare a state of emergency. A written statement from the municipality issued over the weekend said that although the municipal system and pumps were operating properly and monitored through the rain event, the deluge prevented water from being pumped to overflowing rivers and Lake St. Clair. As the rain stopped and the height of waterways diminished, municipal systems were able to catch up.

The state of emergency has since been ended.

“Ending the declaration of emergency does not mean that the impacts to residents aren’t real and ongoing, only that we are shifting our efforts from emergency response to supporting recovery efforts,” said Lakeshore Mayor Tom Bain. “On behalf of council, I would like to thank all staff that have worked tirelessly over the past few days to mitigate the impacts of this flooding.”

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Plans are being made in Lakeshore to have additional garbage pickup for flood debris. The pickup will be scheduled prior to the regular Wednesday garbage pickup, but no further information has been confirmed.

Multiple other local municipalities week still dealing with the heavy rainfall’s aftermath have added extra garbage pickup dates for residents with drenched, damaged property.

A large pool of water is shown in front of homes in the 800 block of Old Tecumseh Road in Lakeshore on Monday, July 19, 2021. Photo by Dan Janisse /Windsor Star

The City of Windsor is asking residents who experienced basement flooding to call 311, or 519-255-2489, if they require help getting damaged goods to the landfill. Only residents who are not going through insurance can seek pickup services through the city.

To register for the special collection, residents must call 311 or the alternate phone number between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. prior to end of day on Thursday. Collection will take place between Tuesday and Saturday of this week.

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A statement from the city said Friday’s rainfall resulted in more than 300 calls to 311, prompting officials to offer this free pickup support. Impacted residents are being encouraged to also take advantage of subsidies through the city’s basement flooding subsidy program.

The Town of Tecumseh arranged for a special flood debris pickup on Monday. The town’s waste collection will accept bags of waste in addition to the hard-sided containers on regularly scheduled collection date of Thursday.

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The Town of Tecumseh asks that residents put flood debris in hard sided containers or garbage bags if possible to assist with its safe collection and handling. The bags must be tied at the top, weigh less than 27 kilograms (50 pounds), be placed next to the hard sided container — not on top — and not contain sharp objects, paint, batteries, or other hazardous waste.

Friday’s rainfall forced the Town of Amherstburg to cancel its Open Air event for the day, leaving the streets of downtown Amherstburg open to vehicular traffic instead of reserved for pedestrians, activities, and entertainment.

Wet conditions in Kingsville prompted the closure of town baseball and soccer fields Friday and for much of Saturday.

tcampbell@postmedia.com

twitter.com/wstarcampbell

Flood damaged items are shown at the front of a Maplewood Drive home in Lakeshore on Monday, July 19, 2021. Craig and Susie Weir’s finished basement was destroyed by flooding. Photo by Dan Janisse /Windsor Star

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