Flash flooding devastates apartment complex in Mill Woods

Some Edmontonians awoke to a not-so-pleasant surprise early Thursday morning as their homes flooded from the severe storm that hit the city.

The Hillview Estates apartment complex in Mill Woods was one place that felt the brunt of the storm. The building’s entire first level had to be evacuated due to water levels at least four feet high.

“Imagine, I was on my bed, floating on water,” says resident Augustin Avril who lives on the first level of the complex.

He says everything he owned was destroyed by the flooding.

“I didn’t know what to do because I was still sleeping, so I couldn’t save my phone, my wallet, there’s nothing valuable that I have. I have to start from scratch.”

According to Avril, the flooding started at about 3:45am and in less than 45 minutes, everything was gone.

He even had to help a person stuck in the suite next door, who was only able to escape with his pet bird and terrified cat.

“I’ve never experienced something like that,” says Avril. “It’s horrible and in 10 hours from now it’s going to be dry outside and that’s going to affect me for quite a while.”

Another resident of the apartment complex, Nicole Radcliffe, was helping first floor occupants evacuate all morning.

“This is the last place I would expect this to happen, in Edmonton, especially after all the heat we’ve been having this summer,” she says.

“It’s devastating and I feel really sorry for these people.”

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Chris Kucher, a resident living on the first floor, had plans to see Garth Brooks perform on Thursday night, but says that probably won’t happen now because he’s trying to salvage what’s left of his flooded suite.

He awoke to the storm at 4am Thursday morning and noticed water trickling under the door. He then called the apartment’s manager and found out he was the third person from the complex to make the call.

Kucher started putting his valuables higher up in his suite; not expecting the water level to rise as high as it did.

At 4:45am he evacuated his suite and watched his apartment fill up through his bedroom window.

“It was pure shock actually, it was unbelievable,” he says.

“I’ve never experienced anything like this so I didn’t know what to do, still don’t know what to do really, just kind of went up there, went to the main floor, kind of sat and watched it all rise up because there’s not much you can do at that point.”

Kucher says that some of his valuables were saved, but many things, including a lot of his books, are gone.

“I was leaving at the end of this month, so I’m not insured, so I’m back to zero, back to step one for me.”

Resident Ernie Koch says the thunder and lightning woke him at around 3am and he began watching the downpour outside.

He says he saw the manhole covers on the street lift off and start spraying water about three feet in the air.

“The rain kept coming and turned into a river, literally pouring into the parking.”

Koch didn’t experience any flooding in his suite since he lives on the second level of Hillview Estates, but his vehicle was damaged beyond repair by the water.

“We got no electrical left. So I’m not even going to try to attempt anything. I’m just going to call the insurance guys and say deal with it.”

The apartment complex manager, Gordon Krentz, says at least 25 suites were affected and the occupants will all need to be relocated as they pump out the water and make sure there are no electrical hazards.

They are hoping to get assistance from Red Cross to find places for the displaced tenants.

Manager of Drainage Services, Chris Ward, says the rainfall was centered clearly on South Edmonton, mostly in the south east, which overwhelmed some drainage systems.

“The system is designed to handle a fair amount of rainfall, but there’s always a bigger event than you can design for.”

Edmonton Fire Chief Ken Block says they had over 40 calls directly related to the storm, including two residential fires that were confirmed to have been caused by lightning.

There were also 20 rescues on flooded underpasses on the Whitemud, but fortunately there were no injuries.

Block says their resources were strained and they had to call in units from downtown Edmonton to help in Mill Woods. He says events like this are a rare occurrence, but not unheard of.

“I’ve been around for over 30 years and every decade you’ll get a couple of evenings like this – whether it be wind or whether it be lightning and rain – and that’s what we experienced last night.”

The Red Cross is accepting donations to help the affected families. To find out how you can help, click here.