When the remains of the storm Debby hit Quebec on Friday, Cynthia Légaré, a resident of Louiseville in Mauricie, experienced what she describes as “hell,” and it’s still not over. “I experienced it once and I never want to experience it again.”
“At first it was a small ingress of water, but I managed. At one point it was gushing out of the showers, drains, toilets,” says the single mother of three children whose basement water reached five and a half feet. After trying to save as much as possible from her basement, she had to give up and was evacuated by canoe.
In Louiseville on Friday, the surrounding rivers overflowed and water rushed into the basements of residences.
After regaining access to her residence, Cynthia Légaré immediately set to work pumping out the water — in particular using her pool pump, which she had converted for the occasion — and cleaning. “We saw tons of souvenirs being shoveled out,” she recalls. The cleanup effort is not over; Cynthia Légaré and her entourage were still at work when the Duty Thursday, nearly a week after the storm.
She also deplores the services provided by the disaster relief company Qualinet, which “left a dehumidifier and let me do all the cleaning myself.” “They told me it was one of the most beautiful houses after a disaster, but that’s normal, I cleaned everything.”
Mme Légaré also hopes to be able to count on greater assistance from the provincial government for the victims, but she mentions that the assistance provided by the City, which includes, among other things, the collection of waste caused by the flood, was welcome.
For the moment, she has still not received a response from her insurance and hopes to see “funds released quickly” so as not to find herself financially trapped. “Right now, it’s anxiety through the roof,” explains the resident. Because of the floods, she has only been able to work one shift since the flood hit. Debby.
The next step is to restore hot water and start moving the upstairs of her house so she can properly accommodate her children. “We’re living out of two suitcases right now. I wash at someone’s house and I do my laundry at someone else’s,” she says. “The worst part is feeling dependent on others,” she says.
Cynthia Légaré still considers herself “one of the luckiest,” because many people — neighbors, friends and family members — have offered their help. “It really takes a support network.” A little light at the end of the tunnel, the passage of the storm has “really brought Cynthia and her neighbors together,” she says.