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| Wednesday July 25, 2012, Thunder Bay, ON-Jessica Sharpe and her son Adam stand in front of their now tilting home, the tilting is a result of cinder blocks moving because of soft ground caused by flood water. Lynda Henshell |
July 25, 2012, THUNDER BAY, ON-During the second last week
in May 2012 the city of Thunder Bay experienced a large downpour of rain that
wreaked havoc on the sewer system and caused massive flooding throughout the
city. Bridges were closed, homes and buildings were flooded with water and raw
sewage leaving many residents seeking shelter and help elsewhere. A state of
emergency was issued by Mayor Keith Hobbs and on June 8th the City of Thunder
Bay was declared a disaster zone by Municipal affairs and housing minister,
Kathleen Wynne. It was during the last week of May that Jessica Sharpe, her
husband Michael and their now 17-months old son, Adam opened their home to take
in food and clothing donations for flood victims in her East End neighborhood. "
A bunch of people decided we would get together and help out wherever we
could". Sharpe's home seemed to be spared from the flood and damage free,
so after witnessing what was occurring in her community and feeling blessed her
home was safe she wanted to help. Her taking in of food and clothing donations
eventually took over her house causing the donations to have to be moved to a
larger space in St. Peter's Church basement, Sharpe's actions led to the
formation of a group of volunteers who became known during the floods as the
"Basement Bunch".
Now two months later
Sharpe and her family are finding themselves in need with no one to help them. About
a week after the flooding Jessica says "we went to put a bucket under to
drain the sink out. We noticed that the pipe had already come out and that's
when we started noticing that we had sink holes in the house, there was dry
wall coming apart from the seams. We had a crack in our staircase , wood
warping, lots of things inside the house. Then we went outside and noticed that
there was a definite shift and we went underneath our house. We have a
crawlspace dugout and we noticed that
since the dirt was so soft it was just pushing the cinder blocks out of place.
We're tipping now." Sharpe's home is one of many in the East end that has
had after flood damage occur not covered by insurance.
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| Wednesday July 25, 2012, Thunder Bay, ON- Cracks in the wooden
staircase began to appear in the Sharpe home about one week after the
flood. Lynda Henshell |
In a plea made on the
social networking site Facebook, sharpe stated "My family and I have been
out of our home since June 6th due to our house sinking due to the heavy ground
water from the flooding in the East End. We have gone through our insurance company
and they have told us we 'Don't qualify' as our house only had 'ground water'
and not 'sewage".
Sharpe and her family
have done everything they could think of to get help with their sinking home, "We
went through the bank to see if we could qualify for a loan to do the repairs,
we were denied because of the condition of the house and where it is located.
We are in the process of applying for funding from the relief money raised by
the City, however have been told that the process to determine IF we qualify,
will take until Christmas or the New Year!". Sharpe was referred to the District Social
Services Board for help and was told by them that they have run out of
municipal funding to help low income residents with home repairs and to check
back in October. "How are we suppose to wait this long? We (and many
others I'm sure) are stuck! What exactly are we suppose to do? Right now the
only thing we can think of is to declare bankruptcy and loose everything!"
The family is
currently staying with family members but still paying mortgage, insurance and
utilities at the damaged home so they are desperate to have repairs made to the
home's foundation and sinkholes fixed so that they can return home. The family is now looking into the Ontario Aboriginal
housing Association grants, since Jessica is Metis they hope it might help them
but they still have to apply for the grant and then wait to hear if they
qualify. In the meantime they have applied for the city flood funding but will
have to wait to see if they qualify for that and funds are dispersed. "we
bought the house when I was pregnant with Adam, we were hoping we could stay
for a few years. Give him a nice home to grow up in " said Jessica,
"initially we were shocked because of the flooding, a lot of people, not
just myself, were a little upset with how long it did take for processes to get
moving along". With the announcement
of if new funding will be available not occurring until the fall Sharpe says that
people are feeling frustrated, "it's frustrating because we still have these
bills, they don't go away just because we can't live here". Sharpe is
unsure what the future holds for her house and family or if they will ever be
able to raise the estimated twenty-one thousand dollars it will take to fix the
home. They are looking into every possible funding source and trying to find an
affordable contractor but right now there seems to be little hope for this
family who were the first to open up their doors to strangers in need.
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| Wednesday July 25, 2012, Thunder Bay, ON- Before the flooding in May of
this year the Sharpe family had no major problems with their home. One
week after they began to notice things like a space developing in the
front doorway. Lynda Henshell |
