Post-tropical storm Fiona left behind hundreds of millions of dollars in damage and pushed some people from their houses, including a Nova Scotia mother and daughter who remain homeless and are struggling to find somewhere to go.
“I can honestly say I didn’t expect to ever be homeless,” an emotional Amanda Weaver told CTV News.
Fiona peeled away part of the farmhouse where Amanda and her mother Louise rented for 17 years.
“You could feel the house lifting from the wind,” she says.
Patches of their roof fell before rain poured in and mold grew.
The Weavers say their landlord told them their rent could go toward repairs, but they doubt a contractor would work for $500 a month.
“No one deserves what Fiona did to us,” says Louise. “It’s just, it’s something that happened.”
Now, they’re living out of bags and sleeping on couches or air mattresses.
The Canadian Red Cross helped them with a hotel for a week, but the Weavers say securing a new spot to call home is hard.
“Everything is really, really expensive and they don’t allow dogs,” says Amanda, who also struggles with health problems.
Amanda relies on the province for a disability cheque and money for medication. She says she was told the money wasn’t coming without proof of a home address.
“And I have insulin that needs to be… you know… I have 4 days-worth,” says Amanda. “That’s it.”
“I don’t chose to be this way, but I’m angry right now,” says Louise. “And that’s all I’m concerned with -- is my daughter.”
In Nova Scotia’s Colchester County, Fiona pushed more than the Weaver’s from their home.
“At least 10 or more families have been added to our caseload on top of all the other members of Colchester County that we’ve served,” says Shelby Thompson, a housing support worker for Truro Outreach Society.
CTV News contacted the province of Nova Scotia about Amanda’s case. The Department of Community Services said they couldn’t comment on specific cases, but that the information was passed on and would be investigated.
Amanda says she received a call from a case worker Tuesday afternoon and that her medical support will be activated in 24 hours.
