Cambridge family searching for answers after their home flooded

A Cambridge mom of two young children got a frantic knock on her front door from a neighbour July 17, alerting her that water from the creek nearby was coming in fast.

Within minutes the water level was almost four feet high and forced the family to flee.

For the past seven years, Rayna Podwinski rented out the home on Clyde Road with her family. Podwinski’s children are five and two years old.

After the knock on the door, Podwinski said she had to react quickly as the backyard was flooding with her children playing on the deck. She grabbed their canoe, tucked the kids in with life jackets, ensured their pets were safe and took off, fearing an electrical issue could arise.

“The house is now uninhabitable due to mold growth and the water is still sitting in the house, we’ve just been salvaging everything we can to put into storage,” she told 570 NewsRadio in an interview.

The family lost the majority of their belongings in the flood, Podwinski added they mostly had second-hand belongings. They have been staying temporarily at a family member’s place since.

“My youngest is really scared of water, I mean I haven’t had a whole lot of time to process anything because we’re in survival mode. We’re all just hanging on by a thread right now because we’re homeless. Right now, as a mom I’m just really concerned because I don’t have a school to put my kid in.”

The family is unsure where they can go because of the inflation of rental prices. The house they were in was protected under Ontario’s rent control. The person that owns that house along with Podwinski can’t get help from insurance because it was deemed water from an outside source.

Podwinski said they are stuck in limbo currently and haven’t had any answers into investigations with the Grand River Conservation Authority (GRCA) who is in control of Shade’s Mill Dam nearby. More information on GRCA and flooding can be found here.

The GRCA said they won’t be commenting to media on the matter when asked.

The current living situation is cramped and exhausting the families, Podwinski added her kids haven’t been able to just be kids since this happened.

“We’ve had seven years at that place, building our lives and making a family. It’s been devastating to have to through out three quarters of their toys and just try to downsize as fast as possible,” she said.

She told 570 NewsRadio that three members of the GRCA showed up in marked vehicles that day to do estimates on the property. She added she was in emotional distress at the time.

“When I got the kids to safety we were standing on dry land, I could see the road at that point, and I could see them trying to find the place and I flagged one of the trucks down that was marked. His face just told me a story of we didn’t really know these places were back here in this area.”

Podwinski mentioned that it was disclosed to her partner that an unsupervised individual was left to open the floodgates at Shade’s Mill Dam and instead of doing so incrementally they did it at 100 per cent.

“It completely took our lives out, so part of me is very worried that it’s a risk to someone else’s safety.”

A GoFundMe was set up by a family friend to help them out, aiming for a goal of $10,000. As of July 29, it was almost at $9,000.

Podwinski is grateful for the community’s help as they try to get back on their feet.