London couple desperate after 7 feet of water ruins renovated basement

The flooded basement of Sarah Van De Vooren's home is seen in London, Ont. on Tuesday, June 23, 2015. (Derrick Kersey / Facebook)

A newly renovated basement, ruined.

A Wellington Road couple is looking for answers after Tuesday morning's storm dumped seven feet of water into their newly renovated basement apartment.

"You can see the water line. The water was up this high," says homeowner Sarah Van de Vooren.

Van de Vooren and Derrick Kersey lived through a nightmare as the basement apartment they were in the final stages of fixing from a previous flood went from dry to under seven feet of water within 15 minutes.

"It was like a tsunami. It just came in and we just screamed grabbing things and running up the stairs and trying to save as many materials as possible, which sounds silly now but at the time we put so much work into trying to fix it, we're just trying to save it," she says.

After a September rain storm left three feet of water in the basement apartment, the couple used insurance money to fix it, renovate it and improve the space to rent out once again.

Now, Van de Vooren and Kersey are back to square one, but without help this time.

"Insurance isn't going to help us here, I'm really out of options. I don't know what to do and I can't justify fixing it and renting it to someone when that can happen again," says Van de Vooren.

The owners have contacted city councillors who have passed their situation to city staff, but Van de Vooren is unsure if a solution can be found for water run-off in their area.

"I don't know what they can do for us specifically. It's the entire community that needs help like the woman across the street here, everytime it rains she has feet of water in the basement," she says.

"So what are we to do? I've been fighting this, maybe not for 50 years but since 1968," says neighbour Jean Embury.

Not only do their basements fill up, but there so much water, a parked car flooded as well.

It has left them feeling hopeless. They can't fix it up for fear of another flood, and they can't sell it with the current problems.

"I'm stuck, I'm stuck, I need the city to fix the issue, so that my property is worth something," Van de Vooren says.

CTV News heard from city hall late Wednesday afternoon.

Officials are aware of the situation at Wellington Road and Moore Street and are assessing several situations across the city before it can decide what can be done to help.

The city engineering department also told CTV News the area is due for a system overhaul as part of the Rapid Transit Plan starting in 2018.

A fundraising website has been set up to help the couple with renovations at: youcaring.com/londonflood