Alberta flood survivor warns New Brunswickers, recovery can take years

For Charlotte Sexsmith, the perils of springtime floods are all too familiar.

When she travelled to High River, Alta., in June 2013 to meet her newborn grandchild, she ended up caught in that city's historic flood. Though she and her husband had retired to Leamington, Ont., he operated a business in High River that was "washed away" in the disaster.

Sexsmith spoke to Checkup host Duncan McCue about her journey to rebuild after the flood and the lessons she's learned along the way.

Charlotte Sexsmith: It was a perfect storm because the mountains hadn't melted yet and High River's right on the Highwood River. It was the equinox and it rained and it rained and it rained and eventually, 13,500 people were evacuated from High River.

My husband's business was literally washed away and they lost all of their equipment. All of our service trucks — he's an Alberta land surveyor — were under water.

Our daughter had a friend who lived at Strathmore, who sent a text saying 'Just show up.' All of our personal vehicles were underwater, except for one, which was an Explorer. So four adults, a brand new baby, three dogs and two cats, went out to Strathmore, Alta., that night.

People did drown in the floods in High River, but the sun comes up and things have to get back to normal. It took forever for the water to dissipate and there was so much heartache.

You say the sun comes up, Charlotte, but what was it like for you to try to pick up after that devastation?

Well, I had to come back to Ontario. But the people in High River didn't have their insurance claims settled very quickly. In fact, it took over two and a half years for my husband to have his claim settled. He just rented buildings.

If you own a property, you're living in it, you're paying your mortgage payment and your home is now uninhabitable, you receive a demolition order, but the mortgage company says you still have to make the payments to them.

You also still have to pay property taxes and have to house your family some other place you're paying rent on and they build a quick town using [modular] buildings and things they picked up very quickly, but the insurance companies did not pay out. They refused, they dickered with people; with technical equipment my husband owned. They wanted to give him 10 cents on the dollar and they just refused to settle. It just has been a nightmare.

What ended up happening with your husband's business?

We rented space. When it happened, fortunately one of his employees had a home office in his home in Calgary. That's where they started to operate from and a lot of the data was stored off site in the 'clouds,' but all the hard equipment service vehicles, like the trucks were all underwater.

I feel for these people. If they think that they're going to call their insurance company up and have a chat, they're looking at two and a half, three years. Some people don't have insurance and the compensation from the provincial government is minimal because they can't cover everybody.

What advice would you give to folks who are facing flooding right now or who are in active flood plains, in terms of what they should be looking for?

Don't buy anything that's worth a great deal of money because ... fancy furniture floats just the same as cheap furniture. I'm being facetious when I'm saying that, but it's absolutely true. It doesn't matter. Water damage is incredible.

I feel for every single one of these people. They faithfully paid their insurance premiums believing they had protection.

I'm lucky enough, in Leamington, to have overland flood insurance. It was offered to me. If I cancel, I'll never get it again. I got it before there were torrential rain storms in Windsor. I have heavy duty sump pumps and backup valves and everything else.

My property has never flooded in Leamington, but I'm as prepared as I can be. It will eventually happen. I so feel for these people. I hope they have financial resources because they're looking at a nightmare situation.

This Q&A has been edited for length and clarity. To hear the full interview with Charlotte Sexsmith, download our podcast or click 'Listen' above.