Moose Jaw residents express outrage at city as basements flood

More than a dozen people in Moose Jaw have been left extremely frustrated after their basements flooded, blaming the mess on the city.

For Holly Henderson, who lives in the South Hill neighbourhood, it happened two times in the span of only a few weeks.

“May 24 was the first time,” she said. “It started off with a small amount of water in the basement. We thought it was a blockage in the drainage under our house.”

Henderson had a plumber come take a look at the issue, but before they could arrive with the tools needed to deal with the problem, disaster struck.

“We have a backflow valve as a sewer backup preventative. The cap of the backflow valve actually exploded off the top of the unit like a gun,” she said. “And then because there was so much pressure, the water came in like a fountain.”

Some of the destruction Holly Henderson is dealing with. (Holly Henderson/Submitted)

There was a huge mess to deal with, but to Henderson’s surprise, she wasn’t alone.

Michelle Acorn rents out some properties in the same neighbourhood.

She as well found herself in a flooded basement after being alerted by people in the area as to what was happening.

“It sounded like a tap running. It was so fast how it was flooding in,” Acorn said. “All the neighbours were out on the street dealing with the same problems.

“We were one of the lucky ones. We only have two furnaces, a washer and a dryer in the basement. The furnaces are in the higher part so we were lucky it never got to them.”

The cleanup began for people like Henderson and Acorn as they tried to get in touch with the City of Moose Jaw to better understand what had happened and what the city would be doing to make things right.

Unfortunately for them, there was no reprieve from the water as a little over a week later, their basements flooded again.

“This happened again on June 3. I couldn’t believe it; people are so frustrated,” Henderson said. “It’s been very overwhelming. We had a finished basement and now it’s been destroyed.

“Some of us have travel plans but we have had to cancel them because of the possibility of this happening again. It’s ruined our summer because now we have to stay home due to the city’s incompetence.”

The City of Moose Jaw confirmed there was a watermain break on an old cast-iron line in the area that penetrated the sewer that was nearby.

Director of public works and utilities Darrin Stephanson called it an “unfortunate situation,” but added there are about 50 watermain breaks a year with the old cast-iron network that is still in place.

“The city obviously doesn’t take direct liability for any infrastructure failure; no municipality does,” he said. “Homeowners can certainly pursue a claim against the city if they feel the city has caused damage to their property and that is done through our claims process that goes to a third-party adjudicator, where they will rule based on the evidence of what happened.

“It’s infrequent, but sometimes it does happen, as in this instance.”

Both Henderson and Acorn say the city has been unco-operative for the most part when it comes to communicating with the people who have been impacted.

They also don’t want to be held responsible for paying their deductibles for the damage.

“I want the city to be accountable, to communicate and to pay our deductibles,” Henderson said. “They can at least let us know what’s going on.”

Some of the people impacted have said they have called the city more than a dozen times trying to talk about what the next steps will look like, with very little results in the process.

Stephanson says their claims couldn’t be further from the truth.

“I’d say that’s a gross exaggeration. We have the call logs documented here,” he said. “Some homeowners did call in multiple times, but they also had multiple calls back from officials at the city. It was all responded to very quickly.

“It’s pretty straightforward from our standpoint.”

Some of the destruction Holly Henderson is dealing with. (Holly Henderson/Submitted)

Henderson says she is facing a straightforward reality as well.

“This is the most trying experience that I’ve ever been in,” she said. “We have lost thousands of dollars of stuff and my house is destroyed.

“It’s a very disheartening situation and it feels that the city doesn’t care. We cannot afford to pay a $1,000 deductible for every time the city makes a mess.”

The city says there isn’t a timeline necessarily for when claims will be handled, but it wouldn’t be a lengthy process. The city noted the South Hill area would receive a new cast-iron line in the very near future.