The basement at Little Friends Child Care in View Royal was a flooded, soggy mess over the weekend, and the search is now on for temporary accommodations for 28 youngsters.
Co-owner Tracy Abbott said the perimeter drains malfunctioned during heavy rain and water came up and under the doors of the building, located off Burnside Road West near Helmcken Road.
The result was a pile of carpet that had to be ripped out, toys and furniture that have to be thrown away and a coating of dirt on much of the floor.
“We have a lot of damage,” Abbott said. “Right now, we’re just trying to find a new location to move our families to.”
Kim Sinclair, the other co-owner, pointed to sodden drywall that gives way at the touch. She said it’s expected to take three to four months to fix the damage at a cost of tens of thousands of dollars, covered by insurance. “We’re not coming back in here anytime soon,” Sinclair said. “We’ve accepted that.”
Abbott said there are 64 children enrolled at Little Friends, but only the 28 who attend infant/toddler and preschool programs in the basement are affected.
The major hurdle to relocation is finding somewhere with the proper daycare or private-school zoning, Abbott said.
“We’ve had lots of people offer up basement suites and things like that, but we cannot just move our group childcare centre into anywhere that’s not zoned for that.”
Also hard hit by flooding is Russell Farms Market in Chemainus, although the water that filled the parking lot has all but disappeared.
Most of what’s left is a layer of muck, said Alexis Puttick, a friend of owners France and Vanessa Bournazel.
Workers have been clearing the lot using snow shovels, she said, and the contractor is also assessing what needs to be done inside.
“The waters have receded enough that they can start scraping away the mud and calculating the damages,” said Pittick, adding the work is expected to take at least a few months. “They believe that the building is repairable, so they’ll just have to be cutting up the drywall, basically where the water came in so that they prevent any mould.”
Pittick said a considerable number of products at the market, including dairy and meats, have been damaged and will have to be thrown away.
Flooding problems throughout the Cowichan Valley prompted the Cowichan Valley Regional District to hold information sessions on Monday and Tuesday at the Cowichan Community Centre. Agencies such as the Red Cross and Emergency Management B.C. were on hand, along with experts to talk about everything from building assessment to counselling.
Clean-up kits with basic supplies were handed out, said CVRD spokesman Kris Schumaker.
Schumaker said disaster financial assistance has been authorized for qualified claimants, which can include homeowners, small-business owners, farmers and others “who are unable to obtain insurance to cover disaster-related losses.”
The provincial funding is available for those in the Capital, Cowichan Valley and Nanaimo regional districts. Those whose claims are accepted can get financial assistance at 80 per cent of the amount of eligible damage that exceeds $1,000, up to a maximum claim of $300,000.
Applications must be submitted to Emergency Management B.C. by April 4.
Schumaker said the flooding situation has improved since the weekend. A state of local emergency remains in effect but could be rescinded over the next few days. “The rivers are down — there’s no real threat anymore.”
Contact Abbott and Sinclair with any relocation ideas at [email protected].
For more information and online forms for disaster-financial assistance, go to gov.bc.ca/disasterfinancialassistance.
