YOUR RENO GUIDE
A SPECIAL SECTION ON RENOVATIONS AND REPAIRS AS HOMEOWNERS BATTLE BACK AFTER THE FLOOD
Growing up, Brenda Belcher rued the fact that final exams used to spoil her June 24 birthday.
This year, as she spent the day of her birth dealing with the devastation caused by the June 20 flooding of Calgary and it’s surrounding areas, she found herself thinking she’d gladly take a calculus exam rather than sorting through the aftermath.
Like so many, Belcher and her husband, Dave DeWilfond, woke up Thursday morning, watched the news about the extensive flooding taking place in Canmore, and carried on to work, never thinking that later that day a similar story would be playing out in their backyard.
At 2:30 p.m., a neighbour forwarded Belcher an evacuation notice for their southwest community of Discovery Ridge. “I dropped everything and ran for home,” Belcher recalls.
DeWilfond and Belcher’s parents, who live nearby, met her there and the four of them began a race against rising waters.
“In 45 minutes we managed to pull as much upstairs as possible — most electronics, some smaller furniture, anything we could think of that was of importance. The water was already about a foot (30 centimetres) up the garden door in our basement by 3:30 that after- noon. It was mayhem,” she says. “I grabbed our computers, passports, insurance papers, banking information and anything else I could think of from our office. We threw together some clothes, pulled the cat ... and were out the door.”
Though their 1,450-square-foot condominium is actually a 10- to 15-minute walk from the Elbow River, it was the many tributaries that run through the area that were responsible for Belcher and DeWilfond’s flooding.
Once they unloaded their worldly goods at her parents’ house, DeWilfond and Belcher ran back to help with sandbagging efforts in the neighbourhood.
As the water subsided over that weekend, Belcher and DeWilfond were able to walk back in to assess the damage. “There was a raging river and our house was in the way,” Belcher says of the scene she observed that Saturday.
But, by Sunday morning, after a post on Facebook asking friends and family for help, the repairs began.
The condo’s basement was literally awash with a metre of water at one point; but, a couple of hours after Belcher’s social media SOS, the pumps were going, carpets were being removed, wet drywall was being cut out and the soaked insulation removed.
“It was amazing; people just kept coming!” Belcher says of the generosity they experienced.
“There was this group of 15-year-old boys that went from house to house helping — I couldn’t believe how much they could carry! They worked tirelessly, along with everyone else. I still get emotional when I think of everyone who helped us in that time.”
Once the rubble was removed, the flood restoration began. Two weeks later the basement was sealed off so Belcher, DeWilfond and Sophie could return home and try to regain a sense of normalcy.
Emotionally, it will take some time. “Every day is a little bit better,” Belcher says.
But restorations are moving full steam ahead — something that astounds the couple. They’re also doing their best to turn the situation into a positive by consulting with real estate strategist Greg Dudar for options on how best to renovate the demolished basement to provide a higher return should they decide to sell.
“We’re not sure about the bottom line in terms of what this whole ordeal will cost us at this point,” Belcher says.
“We now know that we have help and because of that, we are feeling extremely lucky and thankful.”
So thankful, in fact, that Belcher and DeWilfond recently hoisted a sign of thanks above their front door to show their appreciation for everyone — those they knew and those they didn’t — who stepped up and helped bail them out.
“We are so grateful for everyone and just want to make sure they know it,” says Belcher.