Sad reality of leaving home
Sad reality of leaving home
Many residents of Fort-Coulonge / Mansfield have started to assess the flood damage to their homes this week. This is the case of Sandra Armstrong, a municipal councillor of Mansfield, whose family has lived on the Coulonge River for three generations.
Photo : Gracieuseté Sandra Armstrong
This year, for the first time, water has risen to the first floor. “In 1979 and in 2017, we managed to get by and save the first floor. This time, the water went up too fast and we had no chance, ” Sandra Armstrong said.
The damage to Armstrong’s home is enormous. The water remained in the residence for about three days and has ravaged the floors, which are now warped or ripped. The building itself, which also contained an apartment for rent, also suffered significant damage to the surrounding land, as shown by the patio, which is now leaning and seems unstable.
Sandra Armstrong went into more detail with CHIP about the events that occurred at her home on April 27th:
The family has since made the decision to leave the premises permanently, despite the hundreds of thousands of dollars they have invested in recent years. Armstrong said that another reason for leaving, other than the floods, was as a way to ease her disabled husband daily life. Other residences in the MRC Pontiac will also have to deal with this dilemma, whether it is worthwhile to reintegrate their homes or to take a relocation grant from the Government.
