North Vancouver residents left to pick up the pieces days after unprecedented floods

The main commercial street in the Deep Cove neighbourhood of North Vancouver was deluged with rain during an atmospheric river.

The rain has only just stopped pummelling parts of Metro Vancouver, but for the hundreds of residents left with flood-damaged homes, the nightmare is far from over.

Over the weekend an atmospheric river brought a month’s worth of rainfall to southern B.C, causing widespread outages and unprecedented flooding to the region.

At least three people in the province have been reported dead, while countless others have been driven from their homes and left to pick up the pieces.

In one of the hardest-hit neighbourhoods, North Vancouver’s Deep Cove, an evacuation order remains in effect for six waterfront homes.

Long-time Panorama Avenue resident Peter Dunsford, whose daughter, Christy, had been one of the residents forced to leave home on Sunday, said in his 55-years of living in the area he had never “seen it like this before.”

His daughter had been told to leave earlier, but she had been concerned “they would lose their house if it got inside,” he said.

“Their whole downstairs floor would have been completely gone.”

Dunsford said his daughter and her husband are currently residing in a hotel, after being told that it could be at least two weeks until they are able to return home.

At the front of Dunsford’s home the gushing water had been strong enough to tear up parts of the driveway and create a massive sinkhole. He said it would have been worse had the District of North Vancouver not upgraded infrastructure recently, and responded quickly to the rising flood waters by distributing sandbags.

“Luckily they had some friends and neighbours with sandbags and 4x4s so they could get the water to go out the house,” he said.

Stewart Shearear, who lives nearby, is one of few in the area who can lay claim to an undamaged home. The creek that runs underneath it, however, is stacked high with debris and mud.

“Literally you could hear the rocks coming down, just hundreds of them coming down,” he said.

“I think the district should probably send someone in to clean out the culvert, because it's just set up now for more rocks to come and block below.”

District of North Vancouver Mayor Mike Little said residents will be able to return when it is safe to do so.

“We don’t want people to be out of their houses, as soon as we can adequately assess the risk we hope to get people back,” he said.

For insured residents left to deal with the aftermath of a flooded home, the Insurance Council of BC recommends filing a claim as soon as possible.

According to its website, before contacting their insurance agent, residents should ensure their policy number is on hand and they have a detailed inventory list of all their valuables and possessions.

When it is safe to do so, residents can then assess the damage and document the wreckage with plenty of photos, it says.

For residents who are unaware of the name of their insurer or insurance representative, the Insurance Council of BC recommends contacting the Insurance Bureau of Canada’s Consumer Information Centre at 1-844-2ASK-IBC.