For the first time in its 53-year history, the Brentwood Recovery Home in Windsor is closed to the public.
Heavy rains during last week's record-breaking storm caused significant flooding throughout the facility.
Dozens of residents were forced to evacuate, while others were left scrambling to find a temporary location to run the vital programs that Brentwood was founded on.
“I don’t ever recall this happening,” says executive director Dan Soulliere. “I couldn't believe it. The water was literally coming into the doors, through them. The water was pouring in.”
The outside entrance, looked more like a swimming pool.
“There was a minimum of six inches of water through whole building,” says Soulliere. “Some parts more than six inches of water.”
The basement of the women’s centre was under four feet of water.
With meeting rooms, bathrooms, the dining room and kitchen inside the main building all under water, 85 residents were forced to evacuate and administration was left scrambling to find alternative housing.
Soulliere says former Brentwood alumni stepped up to fill the void. One woman took in eight people on a moment’s notice.
“Our staff did that. In about two hours, they had 85 people placed,” he says. “It’s incredible what they did, really.”
Temporary office space has been set up in the Our Lady of Assumption Church basement for recovery meetings.
The men were back in their rooms at Brentwood Monday night and women are expected to be back Tuesday night.
Renovations are moving along quickly. Soulliere expects recovery meetings to resume again inside the main Brentwood building by next week, but he believes it could be a year before things are completely back to normal.
No word on the damage estimate, but Brentwood had to pay a large insurance deductible.
Donations are welcome and needed at this time.
