Flooded out of Bowness, living ‘ Gypsy life’

Homeowner fighting for financial help from province two years later

Natalie Sawyer spent last summer living in a tent.

She spent last winter living in a friend’s cabin near Smithers, B. C., which had no running water or heat. Today, she drifts between that cabin and the homes of friends and family, working casually in British Columbia and unable to afford a home.

Rewind back to 2013, a few weeks before flood waters ravaged Calgary and southern Alberta. Sawyer had recently graduated from a post- secondary program in nursing in B. C., was applying for jobs across Western Canada, and was hoping to move back to her home in Bowness.

Then the flood hit. Her home in Bowness was condemned, and she’s spent the last two years fighting for financial help from the province.

“I jump between three places and all my stuff is still in storage. I’m totally living a Gypsy life,” said Sawyer, who, on top of grappling with the fallout from the flood, is also struggling to pay off her student loans.

In the months after the 2013 flood, 1,530 homeowners in Calgary applied for funding through the province’s Disaster Recovery Program. Roughly 480 applications were withdrawn or ineligible, and 795 have been paid a total of $ 26.6 million. Sawyer is among the 253 homeowners in Calgary whose claims have yet to be resolved.

“I’m emotionally and financially exhausted,” she said.

Sawyer’s struggles began almost as soon as she applied for DRP funding.

She hired an engineer, but said the province requested a second report from another engineer. That report determined that all the damage in the home was existing, thereby disqualifying Sawyer from assistance. In addition, the province ruled she was ineligible for funding because the home on Bowwater Crescent in Calgary’s west end wasn’t her primary residence.

“I own the house, I lived in the house, I left the house for school,” Sawyer said. “But my student loans and driver’s licence are registered to that house.”

Sawyer appealed both decisions and the province eventually agreed the home was her primary residence. But it wasn’t until this past July that she finally qualified for financial assistance. She still doesn’t know how much.

A spokesperson for the Department of Municipal Affairs, which is in charge of the DRP program, said he was unable to comment on Sawyer’s specific case, and declined to answer questions regarding why there are still open claims nearly 26 months after the disaster.

Premier Rachel Notley told reporters Sunday the NDP government is looking at ways to try to improve the DRP process.

“We’re focused on ensuring that we boost the staff that are working on those remaining claims. We understand those remaining claims are taking longer because they are in many cases much more complex,” she said.

“But we also know that the way to get through that is to make sure that there are people that are equipped and qualified to review them in a fair way.”

Alberta Party Leader and MLA Greg Clark, whose Calgary- Elbow riding was also hit hard by the floods, called the DRP the “worst of any bureaucratic process” he’s ever seen.

“There’s been confusion from the start on DRP, and promises made and broken right from the very beginning.”

In January, the then- governing Progressive Conservatives set a June target for resolving disaster recovery claims. And while Clark said he recognizes there’s a new NDP government and it’s taken some time to catch up, he said there is “no excuse” for the program to have stretched on this long.

“I have a lot of constituents in Calgary- Elbow who still, two years later, have received no answer on their legitimate DRP claim,” he said.

Once all of the cases have been closed, Clark said he wants to see a “full- scale assessment” and investigation of the program.

Back in Smithers, Sawyer is waiting to hear back on how much aid she’ll receive from the province. With financial support from the Bowness Community Association, she knocked down her home earlier this month. She wants to put the disaster behind her and start to rebuild.

“I’m at a stage where I don’t expect anything from them ( the province),” she said. “I feel like they’re just dragging their heels and waiting until we’re exhausted.”