Homes flooded after Monday’s deluge

Monday’s heavy rain did more than strand drivers and cause a mess along New Centre and Racine. Floodwaters filled many nearby apartments leaving residents to salvage what they could.

Patricia Musilick and her fiancée live in Brookstone Apartments. On their way home last night in the middle of the storm, the water was too deep for them to drive very far. “We had to park on the side of the road as much as we could out of the water and we realized our dog was at the house so we ran through almost knee deep water at this point into the house it was flooded to get our dog out,” Patricia said.

They had time to put some items on a table, but it was dark and water was continuing to rise. “All we could think of is to get our essentials out that we could; we were looking at what was already damaged, computers and stuff. We just got papers and maybe a few pieces of clothing, that was it. That’s all we could really grab,” Patricia explained.

The water has receded from their home now, but not without leaving a path of destruction. “Lots of trash, debris from the street actually flowing in, the carpet is rising, damaged, it’s almost like you’re walking on a sponge… things are floating, shoes everything all over the house, spread out.”

Judging by the water, it’s a similar story for many residents along this stretch of road.

But for this couple, even though they lost many of their personal belongings, they still have each other.

Even if residents of the flooded apartments had renter’s insurance, that’s not going to help them replace their belongings. It turns out, you need a separate policy to cover flooding.