One family’s continuing flood of misfortune
The flood has never ended for Melissa Lepage and her family.
Their Bayview Avenue home in Constance Bay was first flooded when the Ottawa River broke its banks in 2017 and then again in the record-breaking spring of 2019.
They’ve not been able to return home since April 30, 2019, because of a protracted dispute with their insurance company, which insists that pre-existing problems with the house caused its structural damage.
The home needs to be demolished and rebuilt because of extensive damage to its foundation: a problem that Lepage contends was caused by the floodwater and its accompanying hydrostatic pressure.
“I feel like they’re not being fair,” said Lepage, 45. “They know we can’t afford a lawyer to fight.”
Following the 2017 flood, Lepage said, the family upgraded its insurance coverage, buying an “enhanced water damage package” from Intact Insurance.
But the insurance company, based on a November 2019 engineering report, concluded that the policy didn’t cover the foundation damage or other structural issues. The report said the structural damage, present before the flood, contributed to the infiltration of water through the basement floor.
Lepage said the insurance company’s decision is wrong, and has “left us paying monthly expenses for a home we cannot live in, nor afford to fix.”
To make matters worse, Lepage’s husband, Sylvain, 48, a truck driver and dispatcher, was diagnosed last year with a rare brain disorder, frontotemporal dementia (FTD), which has forced him to take early retirement. A form of early onset dementia, the disease affects areas of the brain that control personality, language and behaviour.
Frontotemporal dementia has a wide range of symptoms, but for Sylvain it has led to behavioural and language issues.
All of it has left Melissa Lepage knee-deep in stress, exhaustion and financial worries. “I feel like I don’t know where I’m going, what I’m doing,” said Lepage, a dog groomer who works in Stittsville.
A friend recently launched a Gofundme page for the Lepage family with fundraising goal of $100,000.
“It’s hard for us to ask for help because we’ve always been the ones helping,” Lepage said. “Now we’re in the situation where we need the help.
“I just want my husband home. I want my kids home. I want to be home again.”
The Lepages have five children, two of whom continue to live with them.
The family moved into the Bayview Drive home after buying it in 2003. The home, near the Lighthouse Restaurant, is on the south side of the street, well back from the Ottawa River. Melissa Lepage was told it had never flooded.
“We thought it would be just the perfect little house for us to live in,” she remembers.
The home flooded in 2017, but the family returned four months later after repairs to drywall, flooring and the furnace. The situation was much worse in 2019, when three feet of water filled the finished basement. The home was inundated for a month.
The displaced family lived for four months in a relative’s single-room hunting cabin, then moved to a Kanata apartment. They’re now living with relatives in Constance Bay.
With each move, Lepage said, her husband’s dementia has taken a turn for the worse. She is his primary caregiver. “His behaviour changes every time we move,” she said. “He needs a set routine. It takes a toll on him.”
Her limited income has meant that she has relied on relatives to help fight her insurance claim.
The Lepages have paid for an engineering report, which suggested “lateral hydrostatic pressure” — the pressure exerted by the weight of the flood water — damaged their foundation in 2019. The Lepages have appealed to the insurance company’s customerexperience team and its ombudsman to reassess their claim.
But in a recent letter, Intact Insurance said it relies on its own engineering report, which concluded that structural issues with the foundation were evident before the flood. The insurance company has offered the Lepages $39,735.59 for the repair of water damage to the home, along with $81,639.65 for damaged contents, temporary accommodations and other expenses.
Lepage said the money isn’t nearly enough to return her home to a livable condition and end her flood nightmare.