Homeowners have questions about flooding
But there are few answers about what is causing problem at Happy Valley-goose Bay properties
For three weeks, water has been flooding the basement of Brad and Debbie Keats’ house in Happy Valley-goose Bay and they can’t get any answers why.
On May 13, their daughter came upstairs and asked why the carpet in their basement was wet, Brad said.
He went down, saw water on the floor and immediately thought it would be covered by insurance. That turned out not to be so. He said since it’s groundwater that’s coming into their home, their insurance policy won’t cover it.
Water has been coming into the basement since then, requiring them to tear out flooring and baseboards, and install a pump, and someone has to be home monitoring it all the time.
Both have had to take time off work to deal with the flooding in their home on Rendell Crescent, in a small development off Kelland Drive. Brad works with the local fire department and Debbie is a government employee.
“This is a huge financial burden that we’re held responsible for and we should not be,” Debbie said. “The town should be held accountable for the recovery cost. We’re going to be looking for some sort of restitution.”
They haven’t been able to sleep properly, Debbie said, or leave their house for more than two or three hours at a time.
The Keats contacted the town to find out what was going on and to see how it could be fixed, but Brad said so far, they haven’t heard any solutions.
“They’re scratching their heads, they’ve told us they don’t know what’s happening,” Brad said. “I empathize with their position. They have to figure this out fast.”
Brad said the groundwater has risen significantly on his property, and on Kelland Drive all the ditches on the side of the road are full of water, and more water can be seen further back in the trees. This hasn’t happened before, he said, and he’s hopeful the right people can get involved and figure out what’s happening and find a solution.
Then they have to wait, and hope, he said, that whatever solution is found works next spring.
“Hopefully, we don’t get groundwater in our basement again. Then, are we confident it’s not going to happen again?
“We have to face the reality our house might be screwed. We are reluctant to spend a dime on it until someone says
it won’t happen again.”
This is the first year anything like this has happened in the Keats’ home, but some houses on Pottle Street and Mitchel Street, in another development off Kelland Drive, have had issues with flooding for the past three years.
Wendy Howell, who lives on Mitchel Street, said they bought their home in 2018 and that summer found about three feet of water in their crawl space. They installed a permanent sump pump, Howell said, which prevented any flooding last year.
“The pump was going constantly, but it wasn’t enough to flood our crawl space,” she said. “Then this year, we’ve been flooded since April and it’s severe. It was about a foot and a half of water when we went and checked, and it’s subsided a bit now, but our pump is going constantly.”
Neighbours of theirs also had flooding starting about three years ago, Howell said, so she thinks something has changed in the area to cause it.
They’ve spoken to the town and numerous politicians about it, Howell said, but no answers have been given to them in the last three years. Their insurance didn’t cover any damages, either, she said, since it’s groundwater damage. It has cost them thousands of dollars so far, she said, and they lost a number of photo albums stored in the crawl space.
“This year I’ve gotten used
to the fact this is life for us,” she said. “But then I heard some of the other stories of damage and wanted people to know this is the third year it’s been happening to us, with no help from anyone.”
When contacted by Saltwire Network about the flooding issues in the area, the town said it had no comment at this time.
However, at the May 25 public town council meeting, the town allocated $286,450 to complete canal upgrades and do a study on stormwater in the area. Town engineer Randy Dillon said at the meeting they hope to get the project moving quickly.
Coun. Shawn Crann brought up the groundwater issue and mentioned it had expanded from Pottle and Mitchel streets to Rendell Crescent, where the Keats live.
“It seems like the groundwater issue has migrated down across Kelland, toward the Rendell subdivision area, and I know one house in particular was experiencing groundwater infiltration,” Crann said. “This stormwater study will address any potential future issues in this particular area and hopefully come up with a recommendation on what we can do to mitigate any future issues we encounter.”