More than 40 seniors displaced after burst pipe floods housing complex

More than 40 seniors are adjusting to a new life away from home after a burst pipe caused extensive water damage at the Westlands Non-Profit Affordable Housing for Seniors complex on Oct. 18.

Nearly all 36 units flooded, and the damage has left the building uninhabitable for an undetermined amount of time, Scott MacAuley, a board member with the Westlands Non-Profit Housing Cooperative, told Global News on Saturday.

Residents were able to gather up their belongings and medications and were forced to find a new place to live.

“I’m one of the fortunate ones. I have a daughter that took me in, but there were 13 people that had to go to a hotel,” said Lois Coulson, a resident since 2013.

While no one was hurt and services stepped in quickly, Coulson’s family is raising questions about improving emergency preparedness for vulnerable people.

“I personally never even thought to grab my pills or phone charger … We didn’t know what to do,” Coulson said.

The water damage from the flood was very extensive and happened very quickly, according to Coulson.

“I saw water running out of the apartment across the hall, down the walls, and even my doorframe had water running down it,” she said.

Now, stakeholders are working hard to help make sure all 36 households have a roof over their heads at least for the next six months while the place gets repaired.

“There was only a handful of members that did not have insurance. And they have been on the top of our priority list to make sure that their needs are met,” MacAuley said.

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“Some people had families. Some people had friends. They had that support structure. Others did not. So, as I say, we worked from the most vulnerable to the least vulnerable.”

Community organizations stepped up to help make sure everyone had a roof over their heads after the incident, including Sparling United Church next door, the Keewatin/Inkster Neighbourhood Resource Council for Seniors and Brooklands Active Living Centre.

“Winnipeg Emergency Services moved to housing management and made sure that nobody was left in the cold. Everybody immediately had a roof over their head and warm food in their stomachs,” MacAuley said.

In the meantime, MacAuley says stakeholders will be trying to figure out how the whole situation could have been avoided.

“That’s going to take time to figure out … Should it have happened? No. But, as we know in life, nothing is certain. Things happen. Hopefully, once an inquiry is completed, we’ll know a bit more,” he said.

“It appeared to be a feeder pipe, I understand, to the sprinkler system.”

A fundraiser has been started by Coulson’s daughter Debbie.

–With files from Rosanna Hempel