Floods in British Columbia | “We have lost everything”

(Princeton, British Columbia) Mario Loutef has been lacking sleep for several days. On Saturday, he piled his belongings on the street outside his home in Princeton, British Columbia.

A large section of the town’s downtown area two hours south of Kamloops was wiped out when the Tulameen River rose from its banks, flooding homes and forcing people to evacuate.

The community is still under an evacuation alert, but for many, like Mr. Loutef, the damage could not get worse.

“It turned the corner and then it was like a tsunami because it filled the back streets until we got here. But once they were flooded, that’s when the water invaded my space and everyone else on the road, ”he told The Canadian Press.

A thin layer of black mud covered the entire ground floor of the house. Mr. Loutef has been working around the clock since he was granted access. Planks were torn from the walls, a line of dirt about two meters high on the wall testifies to the level reached by the water.

” I lost everything. We lost everything, my wife and I. I do not know where to start. I don’t know where it will end, ”said Mr. Loutef, who has lived in this house for four years.

“I’m trying to save my tools, which are my bread and butter, because if I don’t have them, I can’t generate income. I’m pretty much in the mud… pun intended. ”

The streets of the neighborhood are closed to traffic. Dump trucks attempt to evacuate stagnant water from certain basements. The streets and sidewalks are covered in mud.

“It’s like a one-man battle,” said Loutef, who was working alone.

“I remember my wife saying, ‘Remember to take your shoes off,’ so I’m going to have to show her. She didn’t want to come here because she’s in shock. She told me not to smoke in the house too, ”he said, throwing a cigarette butt on the floor.

Piles of debris can be seen everywhere, but Lisa Brosseau and her husband Brian Quinn have brought in friends to help them.

M^me Brosseau claimed that despite their basement flooding, she was lucky because a previous owner raised the house after a flood 35 years ago.

“We had a new Airbnb suite and here we go, but the rest of our house is fine. She never made it upstairs. We have our house. That’s not the case with a lot of people here and it’s really difficult, ”said M.^me Brosseau.

Mr. Quinn indicated where the water entered the basement.

“You can see she came down through the back door and opened the door and tore the frame of the door open, and inside it swirled around like a kind of vortex, and everything got enveloped and destroyed.” Mr. Quinn said, pointing to the basement.

M^me Brosseau said she feared flooding would occur despite bagging efforts and that is what she saw happen.

“We were just down the street and there was a boom and a pop and the river came out of its bed,” she said.

Many Princeton residents went from house to house offering a helping hand to their neighbors.

“Our city is incredible,” said Britanny Antonick.

“It’s devastating,” she agreed. It’s still a shock for the moment. All basements are completely filled with water. We’re just trying to do our best. ”