Residents and cottagers in Rhoddy’s Bay found themselves on the verge of disaster over the weekend; now thankful help arrived.
Water rushing into his parents’ home on the water, Kevin Dodds thought, not again. He said the damage this year was unbelievable compared to flooding in 2017.
“We probably had about 5 inches of water on the floor, which caused a lot of damage. This time, 3 feet,” said Dodds. “Every one of these places is underwater”
Dodds called into Newstalk 580 CFRA’s Dahlia Kurtz of The Goods pleading for help Sunday morning.
“I said to him look at the colonel of our armed forces will be joining on the show next, ‘What would you like me to ask the colonel?’ And Kevin said ‘ask him to come here.’”
Within hours of the call, help arrived in the form of members of the military in Rhoddy’s Bay.
The Canadian Armed Forces built massive sandbag walls and fortified barriers protecting homes and cottages along the water; saving Scott Coady’s property.
“If they had not arrived, we wouldn’t be standing here right now, we'd be underwater, for sure,” said Coady.
The Coadys and their neighbours were on edge, up all night, tying to keep the water at bay.
Dozens of volunteers came to help, including a man in the middle of the night with a pump.
“People donating food, money, time everything they could do save us; people bringing dump trucks into the water,” said Margaret Coady; who purchased the property in 2015. Coady’s cottage was salvaged, her neighbour wasn’t so lucky.
“My couches and my chairs and all those things are all getting really wet, and I’m going to have to get rid of them,” said Dr. Mary Ann Beimers “I'm getting to the point where I’m thinking ‘Why do I want to live here?”
