BIBLE HILL - It's going to be a long process for more than 100 renters of a local storage company after the units flooded during Monday's torrential rainfall.
Jeff MacDonald, of Central Storage on the corner of Main and Park streets in Bible Hill, was on site for the past two days going through contents of the units with their owners.
"We have 136 units and about 120 were affected," said MacDonald.
At about 7:30 a.m. Monday, MacDonald knew things were fine at the storage unit as Hurricane Leslie made her way through the Maritimes.
Shortly thereafter, he heard Park Street was being closed to motorists, as was the subway under the train tracks and Farnham Road.
"I called the lady that lives in the apartment building right here. She went to the bottom of the stairwell and the water was ankle deep at that time. That's when I thought, ‘uh-oh, there might be trouble.'"
Later in the day, MacDonald said the water was about three-and-a-half feet deep.
"That's when we started making calls. It's been a rough couple of days."
Trying to make his way to the facility on Monday was fruitless, so MacDonald was there at 7 a.m. Tuesday.
"The water then had virtually gone down, but as I pulled up to the grate, I noticed an apple stuck in the chain and that was more than three feet off the ground."
While many renters already cleaned out the storage units, there will still several there going through their possessions.
Furniture and appliances lined the side of the building. Pictures, including those in photo albums, and blankets were also spread out in Wednesday's sun in the hopes of being salvaged.
"It's going to be a process to get it all sorted," said MacDonald, adding some renters won't be able to make it to the facility for a day or two.
MacDonald has yet to make contact with some, however, the list is very small.
"A lot of people are moving from place to place so you don't always have a working phone number or an email address. As the last resort, I've had to send out letter mail."
He said many of the renters had seen news coverage of the flooding, prompting them to check on their belongings.
When a renter signs up for a storage unit, they are told insurance is up to them, said MacDonald.
"It's the renter's responsibility and they all are told that from the beginning," he said.
It's unclear how many of the renters at the facility had insured their belongings.
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