Walk around Beverly and Julien Deschenes yard in Ellershouse, and it’s impossible to miss the destruction floodwaters left behind.
Their sheds moved a few feet. The doors of one of them are stuck in mud and can’t be opened.
Their hot tub is now tied down because it started to float away. Mould is starting to form on their basement walls.
The couple’s backyard is full of pile upon pile of unsalvageable items—fridges, a lawn mower, baby books, clothes, military items, certificates and more. Rushing floodwaters poured into their basement on July 22 as parts of Nova Scotia experienced record rainfall and flash flooding.
“Our complete history. We don’t have a past anymore,” said Julien.
The Deschenes recall the water rising nearly up to their back deck and everything in the basement was floating. Shelves full of precious plants in an adjacent greenhouse were ruined.
Besides a group of volunteers from a Christian Disaster Relief group who’ve been by the house to help clean up, Beverly said they’ve had no help.
For about three days afterward the Deschenes said they were isolated without food or power.
Their insurance adjustor did stop by this week, but only offered a cheque for $5,000 for their damages. The couple believes they should be covered for a lot more and said they told insurance to keep it.
“That’s just wrong,” Beverly said, adding the two want to fight it.
“We don’t know,” she said. “People have been talking about class actions. We’re not sure. We can’t afford a lawyer. We don’t know where we’re going now. Really $5,000 wasn’t worth taking.”
As the Deschenes sort through ruined photos, mementoes and valuables, mould is starting to form on the walls. They worry their house is not liveable but know they have multiple cats, dogs and other animals to care for.
Beverly said on the night of the storm, she called 911 about six times and no one came. Her husband had gone out to the yard and she couldn’t find him.
Brett Tetanish, the Deputy Fire Chief for Brooklyn Fire Department said they had information that the couple was accounted for and safe, so they didn’t go check on them until the waters subsided to a safe level for rescuers.
Adrian Johnstone, who was helping the Brooklyn Fire Department on July 22 said he and two other members checked on the couple the next morning to make sure everything was okay at around 7:15 a.m.
“And this was the first time we could make contact with them due to the waters and their road being washed out,” said Johnstone. “They declined our assistance.”
CTV News had previously interviewed the Brooklyn Fire Department about a rescue of a woman trapped in a house on Ellershouse road, a street that intersects with the road the Deschenes live on.
Speaking with reporters on Wednesday, the Deputy Fire Chief was asked why crews were unable to respond to some of the emergency calls that night.
“We tried to get to everyone. There were people we didn’t have the ability to get to at that time because once we got into the Ellershouse area our resources were limited,” said Tetanish.
Collapsed bridges trapped his crews but they were monitoring homes and prioritizing rescues where the house was starting to move.
“There was some people we had to wait for the waters to recede unless it was a life and death situation, we just had to prioritize,” The deputy chief said, adding other detachments were called in to help.
Beverly said she wishes someone could’ve called her back that night to tell her no one was able to come rather than having the person on the phone tell her someone was on their way.
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Correction
The report was corrected to reflect that the Brooklyn Fire Department checked on the couple the next morning after being unable to reach them the night of the storm.
