Chatham-Kent residents grapple with flood damage

Homeowners hit by the flooding of the Thames River are cleaning up the damage and hoping a provincial assistance program will kick in.

Marc Green and his family were among those carried by raft by members of the ChathamKent Fire & Emergency Services through their flooded road. Green, who lives on Siskind Court in central Chatham, said about five-and-half-feet of water filled his basement, leaving the furnace, washer, dryer and water heater unusable.

“This is three days of pumping and we finally just got down to the bottom now,” he said Wednesday. Many Chatham-Kent residents and businesses are still cleaning up from the weekend flood that forced some to evacuate their homes. At its peak, the Thames River was 5.25 metres about normal, between high-water marks of historic floods in 1968 and 1977. Green said he has a child with special needs who hasn’t been able to come back home due to the loss of necessary services.

“It’s going to be some more time yet before we can get everything back to normal, hooked up,” he said. “We don’t know if the furnace is any good.

“It’s one day at a time, I guess. We’re just waiting on the government to see what they’re going to do.”

Green, whose home is located on the side of the road opposite of the river, said the family’s insurance will not cover the damage because it is considered “overland water.”