McEwen Avenue apartment residents forced out after flooding damage

A 25-floor apartment in Ottawa remains without power following a record-breaking rainstorm, leaving residents in a scramble. CTV’s Dylan Dyson reports.

Hundreds of residents are evacuating their apartment building after flash flooding on Canada Day destroyed their building’s electrical system.

The Park West apartment at 30 McEwen Avenue near Carlingwood Shopping Centre lost power Wednesday around 9 p.m., according to tenants.

“The basement was flooding, the main floor was flooding,” said resident Allison Pineault. “The stairs to the basement looked like Titanic sinking, like the water was just gushing inside.”

Pineault, who lives on the 21^st floor of the 25-floor building, says flood waters filled the building’s basement where the apartment’s power system is located.

“This (area) was entirely covered in water. And then eventually, we heard either the transformer or the generator explode, like just blow, and the building just shook.”

On Thursday morning, residents were seen filing out onto the street with bags in hand. With no power, air conditioning or available elevators, many were forced to evacuate the property.

“I’m going to have to move out for a couple of weeks,” said Park West resident Katrina Mayer.

“I’m scared. It’s scary, we’re all scared. We don’t know what to do. We’re going to be displaced for how many weeks or days or whatever.”

Tenants’ vehicles in the surrounding parking lots were also left damaged from the Canada Day down pour, with flood waters rising as high as door handles in some spots.

“When we moved [our car], I sat inside and water was, it was like a pool,” said 30 McEwen resident Margaryta Iermakova, who says her car can turn on but the engine won’t start.

CTV News contacted property management company Saickley Enterprises which manages the Park West apartment building but did not receive a response.

Bay Ward councillor Theresa Kavanagh told CTV News she is attempting to work with the property managers to bring power back to the building.

“In terms of getting power back on and getting it restored, it will happen. We just don’t have an exact timeline,” said Kavanagh, who called Wednesday’s storm unprecedented.

Residents forced to vacate were forced to climb up and down stairs to haul their belongings out, unsure of when they would be returning home.

“I’ve heard some say like it could be 13 weeks, I’ve heard three weeks. It’s very all over the place. So we don’t really have any answers yet,” said Pineault.

“Some people want to stay, which is fair, but it’s not going to be a livable situation.”

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