Five months following the flooding in Gatineau frustrated residents are still waiting on answers from officials about the state of their home.
This week Quebec officials met face-to-face with residents to review their claims.
Suzanne Tully said the meeting had given her hope, but she is still waiting for approval to fix her house, which is located in a flood zone.
Tully’s basement has a cracked foundation following the flooding. She said she was offered more than $200,000 from the Quebec government to move – but has refused.
“The government gave me a price, but I don’t want to go – it’s been 37 years here” she said.
Instead, she has applied for a permit through the city to allow workers to come and redo the home’s foundation, which at this point, would come out of pocket.
Residents who are located in the zero-to-20 year flood zone are not permitted from rebuild after demolition, without an exemption.
Many residents said during the meetings, they were granted the approval to demolish their home. Now, they are waiting for funding, and have been told cheques were mailed out this week.
On rue St. Francois Xavier, there are barely any homes that are still livable.
“I don’t have any neighbours left, the houses were badly damaged, here we had about five or six feet of water,” said Arif Mohamed, who lives on that street.
He is one of the only people still living in his house. He said most of his neighbours are in hotels that are supported through the Red Cross.
Mohamed is still waiting to hear back from officials on whether or not his home will also need to be demolished. He will stay put until told otherwise.
