One year on, residents still waiting

By Mark Ribble

Uptown Wheatley will likely never be the same, but one year after the explosion that rocked the village to its core, many displaced families have returned to their home while others have not.

On Friday, August 26, everyone in the village will stop for a moment to remember exactly what they were doing when the explosion happened.

Some were working in the immediate area, while others were home making or eating dinner. Still others may have been enjoying some leisure activities or may not have been home when it happened.

A full 12 months have come and gone and while progress has been made for some, there are still several families who haven’t returned to their homes for various reasons.

The current evacuation zone still keeps a couple of families at bay, while insurance and restoration issues are thwarting many others.

So, where does everyone go from here?

Well, the workers entrusted with correcting the issues and mitigating chances that it may happen again have been working hard drilling, plugging and capping for months now.

For the residents, they have been ultra-patient during a process that they realize has to be done right and not just have a band-aid applied.

Becky and Bugsy Lamb were among the most hard-hit of any of the residents. Their Foster Street home survived the initial blast but was overtaken by raw sewage and massive amounts of mold over the course of the past 12 months.

“Here it is a year later and we’re still not close to getting back in,” said Becky last week.

The couple has moved five times in the interim as their rental agreements expire from place-toplace.

Their frustration lies in the pace that things are being done. When the Sun last spoke with them back in April, they’d just watched 8,400 gallons of sewer water and waste being pumped from their basement and were awaiting word from restoration companies on getting things rolling with renovations.

An initial clean-up was done, they say, with everything being removed from the home, including the basement drywall. Large fans and drying machines now run inside the house, but mold is still quite visible on the walls and ceilings on the main floor.

“Nothing’s been done in about three months,” says Becky. “And we really can’t get any answers.”

Part of that delay, she says, is due to the recent flooding in Leamington, which pulled many of the restoration people away from Wheatley.

They are currently waiting for a second quote from another restoration company.

“Hopefully once that’s done, we will see some progress moving forward,” she said. “It’s been too long.”

Their neighbour Geri Vary is also frustrated with the pace of getting back to her home. She and her husband George were sitting in their garage when the blast happened last August.

“We came out to see dust and debris flying everywhere,” she said.

Now, 12 months later, she’s hopeful they can be back in by the end of the month.

“We’re just frustrated with the system,” she says. “We miss our neighbours. This is the best neighbourhood around.”

The Varys are in their third rental home as they await their return to Foster Street, and Geri says that’s the same for pretty much everyone.

“There are 13 houses on this street and only six or seven are back in,” she said. “Most ofthose people have had to move around a bit during these past 12 months.”

Geri said they were close a few weeks ago, but when the water was turned on, burst pipes flooded their house and ruined the carpets. She walked in one day to a wet, soaking mess.

“I cried and cried,” she said. “Look what they’ve done to my home.”

While the waiting is frustrating, the uncertainty of the situation appears to be the biggest issue for these families. There are those who have been able to move back in and resume their lives, but just as many who still sit on the outside looking in — playing a never-ending waiting game.

And while the Varys feel they are getting really close to a conclusion, the Lambs are still months away from being home.

Becky Lamb’s t-shirt summed it up perfectly.

It said, “#iwanttogohome.”

Bugsy and Becky Lamb in their once-beautiful downstairs family room that is now just studs and dust.

Geri Vary stands in front of her Foster Street home on Thursday, August18. She’s hoping to move back in by the end of the month. SUN photos