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A desk and other furniture, a pool table and a computer.
Dallas Martin was busy counting his losses Tuesday from the monster rainstorm a day earlier that deluged many areas of London, flooding streets and basements and triggering safety warnings about swollen waterways.
“There was water everywhere,” said Martin, who moved into his Westmount home a year ago but had never dealt with basement flooding before.
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“It’s not fun. I grabbed 50 towels to try to stop it, but there was too much water. I couldn’t do anything,” he said, counting himself fortunate to get a restoration company to his place Tuesday to deal with the mess.
He’s not alone.
Hundreds of London households – one city politician’s among them – were assessing damage and mopping up Tuesday from the storm that dropped up to 75 milimetres of rain in two hours, overwhelming storm sewers, flooding low-lying areas and turning sections of some streets into small rivers.
City hall reported more than 250 requests for service to help deal with flooding, and some area property restoration companies were similarly inundated.
“Every homeowner wants us there right now,” said Hany Elkassem, of Pillar Restoration.
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But with so many calls, contractors have to borrow a page from the medical world and deal with the most severe cases first.
“We have to set a realistic expectation because we triage (the requests for service) based on the severity (of the flooding),” Elkassem said. “Clients are saying other restoration companies won’t be able to make it to their homes for a couple of days.”
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Another property restoration company in London, First General, reported it fielded more than 90 insurance claims in less than 24 hours. “It’s been very busy,” office manager Clarissa Morgan said.
Backed-up drains, sump pumps that can’t keep up and surface water pouring through basement window wells often account for flooded basements when intense storms leave so much water behind.
London city councillor Elizabeth Peloza was among those dealing with the fallout of Monday’s storm, after the basement of her south-end home filled up “floor-to-ceiling” with water pouring in from a window.
Peloza said she only moved into the house about a year ago and was still unpacking, with boxes of belongings in the basement. She said she lost baby albums and family photos, including her grandfather’s Second World War photos.
“I am completely overwhelmed and broke down crying,” she said.
Evidence of the sheer volume of water that poured into her house was still visible Tuesday, after the water subsided, with gravel washed in from the basement window strewn across the floor.
Southwestern Ontario was hit by more heavy rainfall Tuesday. London dodged the worst of it but areas to the west were deluged including Lambton County, where a section of the Hwy. 402 was briefly closed because of flooding.
Toronto also was inundated, with flash flooding that caused power failures and havoc on subway lines and left some motorists stranded in their vehicles.
Flooding and water safety warnings to avoid swollen creeks and rivers remain in effect across the region.
Basement flooding can be costly, from $5,000 to $30,000, factoring in clean-up and drying-out costs and any needed repairs, Elkassem said.
That doesn’t account for lost possessions that may or may not be replaceable.
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