Oil contaminates 12 Perth-Andover homes after flood

Environment inspectors have found at least a dozen homes in Perth-Andover that have been contaminated by oil after last weeks major flood.

The contamination is coming from fuel tanks that were uprooted by flood water last Friday. The leaked oilhas soaked into floors and walls.

The New Brunswick government is offering financial assistance to the homeowners affected by the oil contamination. But that doesn't mean much to Annabelle Willet, 61, whose house is likely to be condemned because of oil contamination.

Willet said even if the provincial government offers her enough money to rebuild, she can't bear the thought of returning to her property.

"No. I don't ever want to [return]... because weve gone through flood after flood. We had a flood in 76, we had a flood in 87, we had a flood in 93 or 94, there was one in 2008," Willet said.

"If I were a younger woman, I might be able to face it year after year, but I can't live in fear all the time, every spring."

Environment inspectors hope to finish their work later today at about 16 more homes affected by oil contamination.

Meanwhile, cleanup efforts continue after last Fridays record flood, which forced about one-third of the northwestern community's 1,770 people to leave their homes. The flood level was roughly 1.5 metres higher than the last major flood in 1987.

The New Brunswick government has already discussed the possibility of relocating some Perth-Andover residents out of the flood zone.

'How do you replace a home? It's a tough thing,' Dan Dionne, Perth-Andover CEO

This would not be the first time the provincial government has stepped in to buy homes of citizens who lived in flood-prone areas.

The New Brunswick government boughtthe homes of 22 people following a series of floods across the province in 2010.

The 22 homes, which were damaged beyond repair, met specified criteria set out by the government in the disaster financial assistance program.

Financial aid

Meanwhile, residents are hoping to find out soon how much money will be available to help them recover from last week's flood.

About 200 people have applied for financial aid.

Dan Dionne, the village's chief administrative officer, said the hope is assessments will be completed as quickly as possible to determine which buildings need to be moved or torn down.

It's going to be a major challenge, Dionne said.

"How do you replace a home? Obviously, if we have 50 homes in the community that either have to be relocated or have to be destroyed because of oil contamination, it's a tough thing, Dionne said.

He said people in the village have been told the financial assistance program is not an insurance.

"It's not replacement-cost insurance," he said.

"So different options are repair building as is, do they flood proof it on the same site? Do they relocate a home or is the home destroyed? So that's the point where the evaluation teams are at now, sort of deciding which category these buildings will fit in."

Municipal properties also sustained a lot of damage from the flood, he said.

There was more than a metre of water on the main floor of the municipal office building, more than two metres of water foundin the public works buildingwhich also has oil contamination.

The cement floor at the fire hall caved in, the pumps flooded at the localswimming pool, the electrical panels were destroyed at the sewer lift stations. Plusroads and sidewalks are deteriorating and sink holes are turning up.

There was also flooding at a building the village rents out to Virtual Agent Services, which employs 60 people at a call centre.