Flooded homes days before Christmas seem like a final poke in the eye from the year of the pandemic, Oak Bay Mayor Kevin Murdoch said Tuesday, as he fielded calls from residents dealing with sodden basements. “There’s a lot of empathy here,” said Murdoch. “It’s a horrible, horrible experience to go through, all that damage, months of repairs, all before Christmas.”
Heavy rain and snowfall Monday dragged down power lines, disrupted road and ferry traffic, and caused flooding throughout the capital region.
The rainfall, 70 millimetres in some areas over 24 hours, flooded properties in Oak Bay, Victoria, Saanich Peninsula, Sidney, Sooke, Langford and Brentwood Bay, said Sean Knoles, owner of ServiceMaster Restore, which deals with emergency flood and fire remediation and sewage backup.
ServiceMaster, based in Langford, had four teams dealing with 52 cases of flooding throughout the region on Tuesday.
“We had one poor gentleman with a foot and a half of water in his basement, with no [insurance] coverage and water was just pouring out everywhere — it was a low-lying house, so he just got it all,” said Knoles. “That’s kind of the worst case.”
Some people are insured but only find out after a flood that they are not covered for groundwater, leakage or seepage. Remediation and restoration can cost up to about $40,000 if there are no issues with asbestos.
Overflowing storm drains, an already high water table after weeks of rain, and a high tide were the combination that led to heavy flooding of homes in parts of Oak Bay, Murdoch said.
The most common flooding incidents involved houses where storm drain pipes were overwhelmed. Manholes could be seen gurgling water because they were full, Murdoch said.
Bowker Creek, an eight-kilometre-long freshwater creek, flows from a wetland at the University of Victoria south through mostly underground pipes and culverts, with the final 2.5 kilometres open in Oak Bay. It empties near Glenlyon-Norfolk school. The creek rose up the banks on Monday, threatening nearby homes, but by Tuesday it had receded.
Residents dealing with emergencies were encouraged to call the municipality’s public works department or fire or police departments, said Murdoch. “Our public works crews are out trying to help any situation as much as we can, so that’s No. 1,” said Murdoch.
For non-emergencies, homeowners were advised to first call their insurance companies, which would then work with the municipality, Murdoch said. Determining the cause of flooding and liability is done on a case-by-case basis, he said. “In some cases, our insurance will pick it up. In some cases, it’s the [homeowner’s] insurance company.”
Highs of about 5 C on much of the Island on Tuesday helped melt some of the accumulated snow. Forecasted overnight temperatures of -2 C were expected to result in more ice this morning.
Hartland Landfill remained closed Tuesday due to downed trees and power lines along Hartland Avenue. B.C. Hydro was still working to restore power to thousands of customers, after a peak of 35,000 left in the dark on Monday.
Temperatures in the 6 C to 8 C range are expected for the remainder of the week, with showers forecast for Christmas and Boxing Day.
