Volunteers help clean up after flash floods hit small B.C. community

In the muck, beneath a mobile home, volunteers with a veteran-led disaster response group, clear mud and debris after flash floods hit a small B.C. community hard just over a week ago.

“Some of the places we were working at, it was probably up to a foot of mud,” said Brett Simms, a volunteer with Team Rubicon Canada.

Flooding in Savona, which is near Kamloops, happened after a powerful storm June 30 that sent water pouring into basements and damaging properties. About 20 homes were substantially damaged and a total of 50 properties were impacted.

“It was basically a river running under my house and on each side of it…What a disaster,” said Savona resident, Terry Schweiger.

“We had about two inches of mud and muck in the basement and furniture, whatever was down there, is wet and ugly,” explained long-time Savona resident, Ruth Lakes who is 79.

“It happened so fast, I can’t explain how fast that rain came down. I’ve never seen anything like it,” she said, adding that neighbours came running with pumps and buckets.

Michael Grenier, a director with the regional district, said it’s not just the property damage that impacts residents.

"It’s the mental impact when you’ve got a senior standing in his yard saying, ‘What do I do now?’”

Team Rubicon, stepped in to help about 16 residents, including Schweiger and Lakes. Volunteer Brett Simms described some of the work they have done so far.

“Getting in there with shovels and brooms – sometimes down on your hands or knees, or literally lying down in the mud. Using gardening trowels to scrape it out into pails and having them dragged out on rope by members outside the home, it's sometimes the only way to get it done," he said.

He said the volunteers cleared out about 16 cubic metres of mud and up to 3,000 pounds of debris.

“These guys, and there’s some older than I, are under my house slinging mud out in a sled and then putting it in a trailer,” said Schweiger, who added that he is very grateful for the help of the volunteers.

Meanwhile, Grenier said some people whose homes were impacted had insurance, but others did not.

“The (Thompson-Nicola Regional District) emergency operations centre filed a disaster financial assistance application with the province,” said Grenier, adding that so far, they have not had a response.

And it’s unclear if they will get financial help from the province.

“Disaster financial assistance is intended to provide financial aid to people and communities following large-scale, unforeseen disasters that are not insurable,” said a statement to CTV News from the Ministry of Emergency Management and Climate Readiness

The statement also said the ministry is "reviewing the recent flooding event in Savona and is in conversations with the Thompson-Nicola Regional District on the needs of the community as it recovers.”

Meanwhile, residents are trying to sort through what they’ve lost in the floods.

“It’s stressful. It’s more stressful for my husband because all his treasures are down there. And it’s all gone to the dump,” said Lakes.

Still, she and others impacted by the floods, said they are grateful to volunteers, with Team Rubicon and other groups, who responded to a community in need.

Simms said they couldn’t do their work without the help of those who support Team Rubicon financially.