DEVASTATING DOWNPOUR
Deluge brings wet basements, boat rides and floating swans
Roadways were transformed into rushing rivers as torrential rain flooded basements and caused cars to stall in Tecumseh and Windsor on Thursday.
Jason and Nicole McMillan were on their way to make funeral arrangements for Jason’s mother when their already difficult day got worse.
As the couple drove down Riverside Drive and tried to turn onto Lesperance Road en route to the funeral home, they found their vehicle nearly submerged in an unexpected lake.
“It just got worse as we tried to get through the area,” Jason said. “We bottomed out and stalled, but some good people pushed us out.”
As the couple slogged through the knee-deep water, emergency vehicles tore past with their sirens screaming. Drivers willing to brave the flood floored their gas pedals, creating rooster tails of spray that soaked anyone unfortunate enough to be nearby.
“Nothing can stop us today,” said Jason, looking up at the grey sky. “My mom needs to be put to rest and to us it just seems like she’s having fun.”
Dozens of vehicles across the region became bogged down and were abandoned as up to 150 millimetres of rain fell on Tecumseh before 2 p.m.
Andrea Milne resorted to riding on sidewalks to get to work while the wake created by other cars washed up and over the concrete.
“My car’s starting to float and I’m getting really freaked out,” she said. “Every time a car drives by me it’s like a tidal wave.”
As work crews battled to keep drains unclogged by debris, rain continued to fall. Parks and baseball diamonds drowned under puddles and area waterways overflowed.
Water bubbled from beneath manhole covers and out of the drainage system, adding to the deluge.
On Lacasse Boulevard, flood water gushed from twin hoses working overtime in Natalie Mannina’s basement.
In the four years she and her husband had lived there they had never had any problems with flooding, but their basement starting filling up in a matter of minutes Thursday morning.
Her husband, who works as a plumber, rushed back from work with a pump and rerouted the hoses through a downstairs window to try to battle back the water rushing in.
Mannina, who runs a princess party business, shook her head as she looked downstairs at the soupy mess.
But she said there was a bright side — the basement was unfinished and she managed to rescue most of her wigs and costumes before the water got too deep.
“I hung up all of my dresses so it was just the bottoms of them that got wet,” she said.
Across town, other people were also looking for a silver lining somewhere in the heavy clouds.
After waking up to water lapping at the base of his driveway, 13-yearold Lucas Kiewitz decided to make the best of a soggy situation and take out his boat.
Using a hockey stick as a punting pole, he embarked on a nautical tour of the neighbourhood.
“I haven’t been able to get out in it this year and I thought it would be funny to use it in the street,” he explained, adding that boating beat going to school.
Kiewitz’s neighbours, Erin Ballance and Keira Severs, also decided to “do the flood in style.”
After helping their parents empty the basement, the girls pulled out a pair of inflatable swans to float around.
“We were standing out front and it was torrential rain,” said Ballance. “We have to wait out the storm somehow, might as well make it fun.”
As the downpour continued, low-lying pockets of Windsor and Tecumseh turned into ponds and already large bodies of water broke their banks.
Antonino Fanara watched worriedly as the water level in Blue Heron Lake behind his home on Radcliffe Avenue continued to rise.
He spent the morning rushing around town trying to find a second sump pump after his first one died but found most hardware stores were already sold out.
Fanara said the water in his home was more than two feet deep, but that wasn’t the worst part. After his sewer drain “popped off” he watched sewage surge into the basement.
“Within 30 minutes, the sewer water was coming in so fast that my basement was totally flooded,” he said. “It’s already up to my second step.”
As the toxic concoction continued to rise, it soaked furniture, musical equipment and appliances. All Fanara managed to save were a few bins of family photos.
“I’ve got a freaking swimming pool downstairs now,” he said, heading back to check on the pump.
As he walked down to his waterlogged basement, rain began to fall again.
My car’s starting to float and I’m getting really freaked out. Every time a car drives by me it’s like a tidal wave.