A Coquitlam family is facing numerous challenges after their home was seriously damaged in Thursday night’s windstorm. Jennifer Palma reports
Jessica Kjos and her daughter are thankful to have escaped injury after three trees fell on their Coquitlam home during Thursday’s windstorm.
“It was so loud,” says Kjos. “It was about a minute or a minute-and-a-half and then silence. I have a disabled daughter so when I didn’t hear her calling for me, I panicked and I ran to her room. I opened the door and she said, ‘get me out of here.'”
Jessica’s 25-year-old daughter Josie has cerebral palsy and the layout of their home helps facilitate her care. Now the house has been deemed unsafe to inhabit. Adding to the stress, Jessica also cares for animals in need.
Now Kjos is scrambling to recover from the destruction of the windstorm that generated gusts of 60 to 120 kilometres per hour.
“They say it’s structurally unsafe,” says Kjos of her home. “I’m not allowed to have electricity hooked up or gas hooked up. They say I’m not allowed to live here–occupy or enter–but I have to. I have to take care of these guys.”
For now, daughter Josie is in respite care but it’s unclear where they’re going to live once their emergency housing runs out. Kjos does have renter’s insurance and she hopes to find a new home that can address her daughter’s needs and house her animals.
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