'We're forgotten out here:' Navan farmer pleads for help three months after storm

Barns were destroyed and animals were trapped on the McWilliams Farm in Navan. Ottawa fire crews helped to rescue trapped animals and build new shelters for them. (Photo courtesy of Valerie McWilliams)

An Ottawa farmer says he is feeling forgotten by the government three months after a massive storm destroyed his property.

Wyatt McWilliams was among the Navan residents whose properties were severely damaged by the May 21 storm. Known as a derecho, it packed winds up to 190 kilometres per hour, inflicted severe damage on parts of the city and knocked out power to hundreds of thousands of homes.

McWilliams lost his barn, a silo and five sheds in the storm, and said he still has tarps on the roof of his home.

“It took a lifetime of building what we lost in two and a half minutes, and now we’ve got to start thinking about rebuilding,” he told Newstalk 580 CFRA’s Ottawa Now with Kristy Cameron. “But I’m not rebuilding until next year, because I’m still just trying to clean up.”

The fourth-generation farmer has relatives who also lost their barns and sheds, and other neighbours who still have holes in the roofs of their homes.

“I don’t want to come across as a farmer with their hand out. I don’t believe in handouts. I believe in hand-ups, and this was a disaster,” he said. “We’re still all trying to clean up here.

“Fall’s coming, winter’s coming, and we don’t even know if we qualify for anything,” he added. “There’s no communication, whether it’s provincial, federal, or whatever.”

“We’re forgotten out here.”

The issue, according to Liberal MPP Stephen Blais, who represents Orléans in the Ontario legislature, is that the provincial government has not activated its disaster recovery assistance program for Ottawa and the region.

“The priority needs to be to get homeowners like Wyatt and others the capacity to apply for direct financial relief, so they can get their homes rebuilt and barns rebuilt,” Blais said.

A statement from the province said it deployed 20 disaster assessment teams to assess damage from the storm, which travelled across central and eastern Ontario.

“The assessment process is now complete, and the Disaster Recovery Assistance for Ontarians (DRAO) program has been activated in the qualifying area,” the statement said.

The province has activated the program in Uxbridge, where there was a tornado on May 21, as well as for flooding in northwestern Ontario from April to June and the Fort Frances, Ont. flood on April 22 and 23.

However, it has not activated the program in Ottawa or eastern Ontario.

Blais said that along with allowing the property owners to apply for disaster relief, there should be additional assistance for them on top of that.

“A lot of homeowners in the rural areas suffered enormously, much more so than that program might cover, so there will need to be a supplementary effort to get these farmers … back up and running.”

McWilliams and his neighbours have insurance, but he said that is scarcely enough to cover the costs of rebuilding. In addition, they must continue their day-to-day operations.

“We had to take machinery out of some machine sheds that were still standing to put the hay in, because we had no hay storage,” he said. “There are so many neighbours with holes in their roofs and waiting for some answers.”

The city of Ottawa and Hydro Ottawa have spent roughly $50 million cleaning up from the storm.  

The province also has a program in which cities can apply for disaster recovery assistance to help cover their costs.