Oakmont home owner Holly Tibble hasn't had a flood of requests for help, even though the water damage to her house is estimated at between $25,000 and $30,000.
“I want people to know that insurance doesn't cover this kind of flooding. I want people to be careful and to get inspections when they purchase a home,” Tibble said as she stood in her basement to show just exactly how high the water rose after a series of July storms.
Tibble explained that her son first noticed the problem in his basement bedroom after yet another downpour the night before.
The family pulled back the carpet and moved all the furniture upstairs to the dining room. Despite a previously installed sump pump, the water kept seeping in.
“It stayed about two inches deep every day,” said Tibble, who called in contractor Shawn Kroeker of ATI Inspection to find and fix the problem.
“There was weeping tile, but it was an old style,” Kroeker said, adding that he prefers a newer PVC-style of weeping tile because it isn't as easily plugged.
Water sensors showed that the moisture had wicked up the drywall, which acted like a sponge, and mould had developed about a metre above the floor.
Kroeker jackhammered the basement floor to install a second sump pump. Outside, new weeping tile was installed and the property was graded to change the slope of the land and to force the water flow direction away from Tibble's house.
But Tibble is likely correct when she says that her home insurance will not cover the damage.
“Flooding damage is not covered by most insurance companies any time there is seepage into a house through the foundation or through a window, or because of overland flooding caused by a high river,” said Frits Wortman, senior consumer information officer for the Insurance Bureau of Canada.
Wortman explained that it's not worthwhile for insurance companies to cover flood damage because there may be too many claims to be paid out, especially in summers where there is a lot of rain and in areas where there have previously been a lot of claims made.
“I guess if you lived on top of a mountain, you might possibly get flood insurance. But the insurance companies look at where you live and they say, ‘People with this postal code had 50 claims last year. It's not worth it for them,'” he said.
In some cases, Alberta's Disaster Recovery Program will assist flood victims, but not all, said John Muir, spokesperson for Alberta Municipal Affairs.
“It has to be meet certain criteria, such as being an extraordinary event, and the event has to be widespread,” he said, adding that the question of giving provincial aid would go to a committee, which would examine the scope of the damage and then could recommend it to a government minister.
The City of St. Albert has a program in place to prevent flooding before the storm happens.
People with flooded homes are asked to contact the City of St. Albert's engineering department so staff can look at damage and try to help the residents understand the nature of the problem as well as to see if the municipal drainage system is functioning properly.
“We want to know the nature of the flood. For example, is it sewer or is it a root problem?” said director of engineering Todd Wyman,
Wyman said that this year's flooding problems were caused by a unique weather circumstance that began with heavy winter snowfalls followed by rainstorms in July. The saturated ground didn't have a chance to dry.
“Water finds its way,” he said, adding that it is difficult to say with any guarantee, that flooding will not occur again, even once sump pumps and downspouts direct water away from the foundation of a home.
“No one is ever going to tell you it's fixed because we don't know the nature of the next storm. In 2007, for example, there was a severe storm in St. Albert with rain going sideways. People's homes were flooded.”
The best thing people can do is to get the grading of their home inspected and also to make sure that rainspouts carry water five or six feet away from the foundation.
“If you live on a hill, make sure the roof leaders are placed so they take the water away and are not directing water to your house. And if you mow the lawn, make sure you put them back. If you are purchasing a new home, for $400,000 or $500,000, it's prudent to spend $1,000 to get it inspected,” Wyman said.