After a night of heavy rain, the True North Estates land lease property on Pine St. South was left flooded on Thursday.
Local residents say they have been struggling throughout the day simply to recover a version of normalcy.
Some of the hardest hit properties have seen the flooding up to their porches and into their garages while others are forced to find creative ways to simply come and go from their own homes.
Environment Canada says Timmins received 76.2 millimetres of rain as of 8 a.m. Thursday after a morning storm swept through Northeastern Ontario.
While the total value physical and water damage to the properties affected has not yet been calculated, the number is expected to be high.
From skirting around the trailers to belongings on the property and in garages, the full extent of damage cannot be properly assessed until the water receeds.
“This is not something new,” said one resident. “This has been going on for years and they [park owners] aren’t doing anything about it”.
The stress and anxiety over this situation is shared among many of the longtime residents, many of whom took an opportunity to express their frustration at what they see as a lack of action on behalf of the property owners to prevent these issues from occurring.
“Mary Jane White of Sarnia bought and took possession of this property four months ago” said a representative of Quantum Realty Services Ltd., the company who Ms. White contracted with to manage True North Estates on her behalf.
Quantum representatives said they understand the issues going on with the property and have, along with White, recognized that the problems must be dealt with.
Along with the contractors appropriate for each stage of the job, Quantum said it has spent the last four months fixing the drainage system on the property and attempting to address the causes of any obstructions.
With the property being in the condition it’s in, new electrical panels have been installed for the lift gates on the property and Quantum representatives said it had made arrangements, prior to Thursday's flood, for new pumps to be installed that will handle the current volumes of water being managed on the property.
