Several residents of a south Edmonton apartment complex are either displaced or living in flooded conditions after heavy rainfall earlier this week crept into six units, causing all sorts of damage.
“I couldn’t even see carpeting like it was just water everywhere,” Westbrook Estates tenant Lisa Yaremy said.
Ever since water seeped through Lisa Yaremy’s apartment earlier this week, her living room is in shambles.
“Thursday evening with all of the excessive rain, the water just started to come in,” Yaremy said. “Within minutes it was pooling.”
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She isn’t the only one with a flooded floor, her next-door neighbours also had a large pool of water enter their apartment.
“My computer is totaled. It was in a puddle when we saw it when we woke up,” tenant Brandon Skavinsky said.
These tenants said shortly after the flooding, maintenance staff did come to drain out the water, remove carpet and add fans, but they were hoping for more.
“We can’t provide you another place to stay so you are most likely going to have to stay in a shelter,” another tenant Ivy Fenner said the building told her. “And being pregnant, I could not stand the idea.”
In a statement to Global News Saturday, Boardwalk Apartment said they “contacted all affected resident members with respect to insurance and supports we can provide.”
“We have fans and dehumidifiers in place. We have targeted Monday noon for all residents to return to their homes,” the statement read.
“We have found hotel space and are happy to support the residents with payment in between insurance. We are unaware of any injured and are happy to meet and assist as required.
“We are always available, should you require further information.”
But Skavinsky and Fenner said that’s not what they experienced.
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“We were asking if they can provide a hotel or anything and they stated, ‘Well we can’t really because your insurance will cover all that,’ and they had concerts in the city, so it would be impossible for themselves to do it… and then they were like, ‘You can go to a shelter if you’d like,’” Fenner said
Skavinsky and Fenner said they managed to get a hotel through Red Cross — after having to prove through the fire department that their unit was deemed unsafe.
Yaremy wasn’t able to do the same and is staying in the damaged apartment.
While Boardwalk said it plans to have all affected tenants return Monday, these folks question that timeline
“We’re just worried about our safety in general, there’s electrical wire right underneath where the flood happened,” Skavinsky said.
“I feel totally de-valued, unappreciated and disrespected. Where do you go from there?” Yaremy said.
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