From spring flood to winter freeze, homeowners along St. John River survive

Since June, the three members of theHope-Rapp family have been living in their front yard.

Thefamily farmhouse along the St. John Rivertook on two feet of water, ormore than half a metre, during lastspring'srecord flood.

When the waterreceded, the house about 30 kilometreseast of Fredericton had to be gutted.

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Eric and Anna-Maria Hope-Rapp and their six-year-old daughter, Savannah, have been living in a camper since then, while their houseundergoes repairs.

The family is also raising the house by ametre and a half in hopes of avoiding the next record flood.

Anna-Maria says it's been cozy in the mobile trailer the couple purchased. The trailer also serves as a one-room school house, since Savannah is home-schooled.

The couple thought of it as living in a "tiny house," but things took a turn when the cold arrived.

"We were doing OK until it started snowing, and we were worried about the snowplow coming through," Anna-Mariasaid.

The family trailer sits alongside the old Trans-Canada Highway. When the plow clears theroad, itpiles snow against their temporary home.

Plow drivers have beencareful, but the couple worry about the icy roads.

"It's kind of scary because it's getting slippery out there and we're worried about people hitting us," Anna-Maria said.

"We thank the plows that come by that aren't wiping us out yet," said Eric,withiciclesfrozen in his moustache.

He spent part of his day Thursday replacing the hose that bringswater from the house to the trailer.

It had frozen again Wednesday night as temperatures dipped past 20Celsius.

Awaiting Aid

The Hope-Rapps never expected to be out of their home for so long, certainly notduringwinter weather. But a struggle with theNew BrunswickEmergency MeasuresOrganization over financial assistance left them with few options.

"They gave us a very, very low offer at first," saidAnna-Maria."So we had to fight a little bit to get a larger amount. Because raising the house is costing us just about everything we've got.

"They've been fairly good to us, and we're thankful that we're getting anything, but we did have to struggle a little bit with them."

Under the disaster financial assistance program, owners are eligible for up to $160,000 for basic structural repairs to their damaged homes.

Anna-Maria said the couple spent $70,000 to raise their house and put in a basement foundation.

The family had hoped to be back in by August. But the back-and-forth with EMO would push that hope to September, then toNovember.Now evenChristmas seems unlikely.

"We don't talk about that yet," saidAnna-Maria. "Even if we don't get in thehouse,we're going to put a tree up in the house."

Rightnow,they couple would settle for just getting into their driveway. The home isscheduledto settle onto its new foundation sometime next week. Once the heavy equipment needed for that job leaves, it will free up the space to move the trailer off the front lawn and away from the road.

'EMO gave us a very low offer'

6 years ago

Duration 1:10

Since June, the Hope-Arrp family has been living in a camper while their house undergoes repairs.

"We're trying to bepositiveabout it," Anna-Maria said. "We're trying to think of it as an adventure."

But the Hope-Rapps aren't the only onessurvivingin makeshift homes.

"We've got quite a few people down the road that are still toughing it out in the trailer and stuff like that," Anna-Maria said.

All along Route 105, there are trailers and campers sitting outside gutted homes stillbeing repaired after the flood.

Not alone

When the floodwatersreceded in Maugerville,Paul Arthurs's house was unlivable, so he brought his hunting camper into the driveway. That's where he, his wife, their daughter and two-year-old granddaughter have been riding out the winter weather.

"I'm trying hard as I can to keep it warm as it can in thenighttimeand hope that it gets warmer in the daytime, " said Arthurs.

He saidit costs twice as much to heat theuninsulatedtrailer as it did to heat the damaged home.

"We have no water in the trailer because the hose going from the house to the trailer froze," Arthurssaid. "And it busted some of the things in the trailer, so I spent the whole day fixing things in the trailer and at the end, I just gave up on the water.

"So we just go to a hotel once or twice a weekjust to take showers and get cleaned up."

At one point, the family was doing laundry in a washing machine set up outside the trailer because there was no room for theappliance. Then a surprise frost early froze the water in the pipes and destroyed the washing machine.

Not enough help

A boat mechanic by trade,Arthurs took three months off from his job to focus onrebuildingand lifting his home, mostly by himself.

"I lifted it about seven feet and put a basement under it," he said. "Floorjoists,plumbing, electrical, everything."

Arthurs said EMOprovided enough funding to either hire a contractor or pay for materials, but not both. So he's been waking up at 7 a.m. each day and working on the house alone until dark.

"They gave me money enough to buy the material and to get what I need to get the house back together," he said. "And I think that was in relatively good time, but I think that is because my wife is ill and [EMO]pushed it a little bit faster.

"But they didn't give me enough to be able to hire somebody to do it. If I hiredsomebody,I wouldn't have themoneytobuy the material."

He said if he didn't happen to have carpentry skills, the family would likely have to walk away from the home altogether.

"We would have had to just give up, I think."

Arthurs, like the Hope-Rappfamily just down the road, ishoping to be living in an unfinished home at least by Christmas. But, also like his neighbours, he's not holding his breath.

CBC News requested an interview withEMO about the families' struggles.

SpokespersonGeoffreyDowney said in an email that the department would have an update on Friday but did not commit to an interview.