Laval flood victim, fed up by slow government response, ready to tear down house

A Laval woman whose home was flooded last spring says that, after months of waiting for the government to respond to her insurance claim, she's ready to demolish her house.

"The whole help process is making people sick," Anic Sauvé, a single mother, told CBC News. "They're not calling me back.  I'm leaving them messages."

Sauvé spent the last 10 years carrying out repairs to the house she purchased on 21st Avenue, on the western tip of Île Jésus. Then last May, her home was flooded, along with the rest of the street.

Water moved the house off its supports.

She said she did all the paperwork required to get financial help from the province, but five months later, she's still in limbo.

She got a quote from a contractor which came in at nearly $88,000.

However, government evaluators estimated her damage at around $35,000.

"The [evaluator] come over here, and it shows these guys never touched a shovel before or never did construction. You can't do that type of work for $35,000."

• What is covered under the Quebec government's flooding compensation plan?
• Floods are among the most stressful disasters. Here's how to cope

Sauvé said she's sure her house is a tear-down, but she still hasn't gotten the OK to rip it down from the province.

"Give me my papers, I'll sign them. Give me whatever is that package ... to leave, and I'll go find a new life for me and my daughter."

'An exceptional situation'

The province says it's doing the best it can to process all the flood damage claims in a timely manner.

"Could have we been faster? Maybe. Could it have been better? I don't think so," Francine Charbonneau, minister responsible for Laval, told CBC. "It's an exceptional situation. We cannot do it as fast as people think."

• Quebec boosts compensation for flood victims

To try and speed things up, the Public Security Ministry is scheduling one-on-one meetings with claimants in cities across the province.

In Laval, they are taking place over the next three days. The government says it will meet about 500 claimants just in the City of Laval.

So far, Quebec has paid out just over $51 million to flood victims. The government estimated it would pay $350 million to settle all the thousands of claims.