In the beauty of a July summer’s day it’s, Norine Giroux still finds it hard to comprehend the last few months.
“It’s unbelievable,” she says while looking at her family cottage along Sunset Trail in the Ottawa Valley township of Whitewater Region.
The cottage, that’s been in Giroux’s family for 57 years, is one of the dozens gutted by the spring floods. What’s even harder to believe is that her cottage, as well as many of her neighbour’s homes and cottages, is nearly a football field length from the natural shoreline, not to mention another 8-10 feet up past a retaining wall.
‘’It’s hard on everyone,’’ Giroux says as she glances down the rural road.
“I would like not to sell, I love it down here and nobody is going to buy it.”
“$20,000 to raise it, $20,000 to tear it down,” she says holding back tears, “what do you do?”
For Giroux, because it’s her cottage and not her permanent home she does not qualify for any help through the province’s Disaster Recovery Assistance for Ontarians (DRAO) program.
“We’ve had lots of campfires talking about that,” she laughs, “they don’t do anything for cottages, you’re on your own, which is sad.”
The DRAO program will only give financial help, a maximum of $250,000, to permanent home owners. The money can only be used to bring the house back to where it was before the floods, the government will not assist homeowners in “flood-proofing” their homes from future floods.
The province’s advisor’s are now holding meetings across our region to help homeowners wade through the paperwork to apply for assistance. All applications for financial assistance must be in by August 27th for Renfrew County residents and Ottawa resident have a deadline of September 4th.
As for Giroux, they’ve decided not to fix up the cottage this summer, they worry about what the floods next spring may bring. Instead, she’s set up her trailer right next door so she can enjoy the summer as much as possible.
“The sunsets are very nice here,” she says with a smile, “I wouldn’t give it up for the world.”
