Two weeks after flash floods damaged thousands of basements across Ottawa, major disaster relief organizations are now moving into some of the hardest-hit communities. Samaritan’s Purse is setting up a base camp in the city and preparing to field calls from residents before deploying crews this weekend. The Canadian Red Cross is also partnering with the city to support recovery efforts. The arrival of help comes as some residents question whether outside assistance could have been brought in sooner. “I got a call over the weekend on Saturday [from the city]. When they said they had already a list of 200 people that felt that they were really needing help, that didn’t have resources to get help,” said Tammy Suitor, a disaster relief manager with Samaritan’s Purse. “I said okay, let’s put this together.” The organization is now stocking safety equipment and preparing box trucks with tools and shop vacuums before volunteers begin heading into affected neighbourhoods. The first priority will be residents who have limited ability or resources to complete the work themselves. “The elderly and people that don’t really have the means to get that done on their own is the people that we’re going to try and help first,” said Suitor. More than 6,000 flooded basements have been reported to the city since the record-breaking rainfall on Canada Day. For resident Linda Piovesan, two weeks of cleanup is already taking a toll. “Kind of grueling, just getting up trying to do as much as I can to clean out, maybe sleeping two-and-a-half hours, two hours a night,” she said. Piovesan has done much of the work herself with help from a couple of friends but said she believes many others are still waiting for assistance. “I could use a hand even though I’ve done a lot, and I’m sure other people could use a hand,” she said. The city says one of the challenges in the early days following the flooding was determining the full scope of the damage because much of it was inside people’s homes. “Every emergency is different. Each one has its own challenges, its difficulties, uniqueness, and complexities,” Stephanson said. “And in this case, one of our early challenges was determining the very full scope and severity of impacts, given a lot of the damage was inside people’s homes.” But for thousands of residents, the recovery is far from over. “A lot of people are waiting for their contractors that their insurance companies have assigned to help, but unfortunately they are slow to come around because there’s too much of a need,” said Piovesan. “So, I’m a little worried that people in their homes are going to be full of mold and the damage is going to be much, much worse.” During Wednesday’s council meeting, a number of motions aimed at supporting flood recovery were also passed, including waiving demolition and building permit fees. Residents who received funding through the city’s compassionate grant program within the past five years will also be allowed to apply again for assistance related to the July 1 storm.
