While last week’s rain may have dampened a few spirits, for some Texada Island residents it helped a community pull together.
Disaster was averted Monday morning, December 8, after Susan Sharkey, a nurse at Texada Island Health Centre, discovered rainwater pooling up just outside the clinic’s back door and called for help.
“The rain was overwhelming the drainage systems and we ended up with a washout of water coming down from the street above us,” said Sharkey.
The health centre is located on the corner of Sanderson and Gillies Bay roads. Shortly after Sharkey discovered the water, the building’s electricity went out and the clinic’s backup generator failed.
“There was way more water coming down than what the drains could handle,” she said. “I went out the door and the water was within about a quarter inch of coming into the clinic.”
With the water, debris was washed down and clogged the drain behind the clinic, she said.
She waded out in to the pool and started to fish around to clean the debris up. Community members showed up with shovels and hoes to try to create a drainage channel.
Warren Kiland took his personal generator to the clinic for lights and power and Glen Walker took his backhoe over to dig drainage, she said.
“We had a bunch of people working to keep the drains clear,” she said.
Lafarge Canada Inc. provided sandbags to divert the water and keep it from running inside.
“It was a good community effort,” she said, adding that throughout it all the clinic remained dry.
Many homes on the street reported flooded basements, including the Gillies Bay RCMP station, Sharkey said.
“There were volunteers all up and down the road trying to prevent more damage from being done,” she said.
