The flood watch is over for Windsor and Essex County, but the region is still very soggy.
So much rain fell this weekend that events were cancelled, basements flooded and ponds have popped up all over the place. ERCA issued a flood watch on Sunday, but it ended at 9 a.m. Monday morning.
For many residents, Monday was the first chance to assess the damage done by all that rain.
According to Environment Canada, 74.2 millimetres or three inches fell at Windsor Airport.
For the Dinney family, this is Deja Vu.
“Everything came up through the sewers, the drains in the floors, the laundry tub,” says Christine Dinney.
Dinney says this happened seven months ago and they're back at it again.
“I am very worried about insurance,” says Dinney. “As far as I know I'm lucky and I'll be covered this time but they warned me that I probably won’t have coverage after this.”
Dinney isn't alone. Many of the homes on Iler Street in Essex have flood cleanup to deal with.
“There's some houses on this street that had water up 24 inches or higher in their basements,” says Christian Pedersen of Puroclean Restoration.
Puroclean Restoration came to the Dinney house while the flooding was happening. They were able to minimize the damage.
“We were able to get pumps in here and get it out of the basement and away from the house,” says Pedersen. “We were able to save a lot of the walls.”
Removing the drenched drywall and destroyed flooring is only half the work. Pedersen says it will be three days before most basements will dry out and then it must be sanitized before any restoration can begin.
It’s going to take longer than that before Essex County fields are ready for more spring planting. Brendan Byrne says his Essex farm had 4.5 inches of rain.
“I saw somebody locally has a 45-year record for rain and that’s put us over the record for May,” says Byrne.
But he says he's pleasantly surprised to see the water is already running away quickly. Still this deluge of rain will mean more work for some farmers.
Bryne is hopeful the cooler temps and overcast skies will continue until the fields dry up. Otherwise, if it gets hot fast many of the clay fields will turn hard and choke the plants that are already in the ground.
