A local man caught between homes when floodwaters hit the Squamish Valley won't be getting any help from the provincial government to replace $30,000 in personal possessions.
Nearly a year and a half after the October 2003, almost all residential claims for provincial emergency funding - with the exception of two cases still in progress - have been settled.
The overwhelming majority of claims filed from the flood were accepted and paid out. Area residents filed 192 and 136 were accepted with a total payout of $621,626.
There were 56 claims that fell outside the mandate of disaster financial assistance, according to Provincial Emergency Program Director Bob Bugslag.
"It would be because damages were under $1,000, it wasn't a permanent residence, or the damage was something they were trying to improve that wasn't there before," said Bugslag about the rejected claims.
Squamish resident Denis Maheu was one of those rejected. He received notification that his claim for $30,000 in personal possessions was rejected because his possessions were not in an "essential living area". The adjuster's report he received April 22, 2004 states that because his property was improperly stored, he's not eligible for compensation.
Maheu and his son, granddaughter and his son's girlfriend were moving from a residence in the Garibaldi Highlands to Chiefview Road in Brackendale and had to store all their possessions under a tarp on the Chiefview property because the house was not yet available. That evening they stayed in a hotel and by the next afternoon, all their possessions were ruined.
"All my life's stuff is gone," he said. "The only thing I could do is put it there because I rented a truck. I didn't know it was going to flood."
He says the provincial ruling is ridiculous and the province should make an exception for his situation. But Bugslag said that disaster financial assistance is there to get people back on their feet, not as a means of insurance.
"People have the first responsibility to take care of their belongings. I think it rained about 800 millimetres in the upper Squamish during that event and it rained for like four days at a time. I guess if I had had my belongings in a tarp I would have done something to make sure they weren't sitting out there. You have to take some personal responsibility."
Maheu said that the devastating event not only took away his possessions, but also his son, who decided to take his family back to Montreal, and his construction business, which he was unable to maintain.
He also researched the possibility of suing BC Hydro, which increased flows from the Daisy Lake dam into the Cheakamus River during the flood, but said no lawyer would take his case.
