Quite a Day. Quite a Community...
By: Craig Hermanson,
LockeStreet.com Coordinator
24 February 2003: Yesterday was quite the day.
Frustrating, saddening but also exhilarating and uplifting. How
so when 1 to 2 dozen of your neighbours have been flooded? Because
this neighbourhood showed what it was made of.
Everyone feels terrible for those who's homes were flooded. I
feel especially badly some of those on Stanley Ave who've now been
hit twice by floods this year. But was great was that minutes after
the flood started I found myself one among many as people grabbed
shovels to attack the problem. More than knee deep in freezing water
we emptied basements and cleared away the clean outs of snow and
slush in a desperate attempt to get the water going down the storm
sewers.
Neigbhours helped each other and their children get home from church
and to leave their house when the police and fire fighters came
to their door to ask them to evacuate. People offered each other
a warm dry place to sleep. They shoveled snow into make-shift berms
to keep the water from encroaching onto homes—then they shoveled
more snow to make drenches to flow the water away from the homes.
Everywhere I went yesterday people were helping each other deal
with disaster. The stories I've heard since then have all been about
helping eachother while freezing water flowed around their legs.
Brought together in a common cause, strangers spoke, neighbours
became closer friends and the community proved itself and reinforced
why this is a great place to live.
That's the brighter side of the story. The darker side has to do
with why it would take 2 and half hours to shut off the water and
why our infrastructure could be left to deteriorate for so long?
Form more news please visit the News
Index. If you have something to say on this matter, join
a discussion in our discussion forums.
LockeStreet.com welcomes your comments
and suggestions. Read more about this
site.
<top>
Be sure to visit the LockeStreet.com
Service Directory |
