WINDSOR, ONT. -- The effects of Friday’s rainstorm are still being felt by residents in one South Windsor neighbourhood.
Rachel Spadotto says her basement flooded with at least six inches of water.
“It’s something the city needs to address because there’s so many homes in this neighbourhood getting affected by this,” says Spadotto, who has lived on Churchill Street since 2007.
“We have two sump pumps in our house, we have backup sump pumps, we have a pressure valve to go off if the power kicks out and we have a backflow valve,” she says. “We’ve literally done everything we possibly can.”
Spadotto says water has entered her basement a minimum of eight times. The latest was this past Friday when over 130mm of rain poured down in parts of Windsor-Essex County.
“We had furniture down there, the kids had like a hangout space, so they had mattresses on the floor for when their friends came over and blanket, hockey tables and toys,” Spadotto tells CTV News.
The City of Windsor received more than 260 calls regarding basement flooding on Friday.
City officials are currently investigating as to why this particular neighbourhood suffered the most damage.
“We have reports of some downstream blockages outside of our jurisdiction,” says city engineer Mark Winterton, who hopes to have more information in the next couple weeks.
Ward one councillor Fred Francis has spoken to more than 200 residents in his ward, since the rainstorm.
He plans to address the issues at the next council meeting, Monday, Sept. 14th.
“People are reasonable. They understand that we had a significant rainfall, but they also understand if I never had flooding before in 40 plus years and now I’m flooding, just tell me what went wrong,” Francis explains.
The City of Windsor is asking residents who experienced basement flooding last week to contact 311 and schedule a special pick up.
The city is arranging garbage collections for this Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday for anyone not going through their insurance company.
