Though many may not have seen the standing water early last Friday morning, pedestrians in the downtown core would have seen many ‘closed due to flooding’ signs on the doors of businesses on Shoppers Row as well as 11 Avenue.
Lori Gooldrup, owner of Divas Ladies Fashion and Formal Wear, had her doors closed on Friday and Saturday.
Though the water only flooded the back half of her space, it took her and her husband two days to get everything cleaned up. Though they were able to wash hems and save a few dresses, in the end she had to throw away 20, and her insurance doesn’t cover flooding without a $25,000 deductible.
“This just put an extra strain on us struggling little businesses,” she said.
Divas is once again open, but the prom room in the back half of the store will remain closed until it can be repaired.
Gooldrup said that the landlord’s insurance will cover the building repairs.
Gooldrup had to create a temporary change room, and though she said it doesn’t look professional, it will do for now. She is thankful that it wasn’t worse.
A few doors down from Divas, Georgie Smith was dealing with similar problems.
She said she hasn’t seen flooding like that in the eight years she has had her business, Georgie’s Furniture and Fashion, at that location.
“If I had been a total furniture I would be in big big trouble,” she said.
As it stands she will be unable to sell most of the furniture that she had on the floor because of water damage.
She also closed the store on Friday and Saturday to do clean-up.
Smith is worried about the upcoming rainy season.
She said she is thinking of taking preventative measures such as putting sand bags in place.
As of Wednesday afternoon, Smith hadn’t heard anything from the city but she said she feels like they have some responsibility for what happened whether it be old infrastructure or storm drain maintenance.
A request for comment from the City of Campbell River was not returned before the Mirror went to press.
City of Campbell River photo
Heavy rains last Friday morning backed up sewers and resulted in flooded streets in the city’s downtown core.