Months after a Lark Harbour landslide destroyed their home, this family is seeking help

A family from Newfoundland'swest coast is left with a destroyed home and few options in the wake of amajor rainfall in late March that caused their uninsured house to shift off its foundation and topple to its side.

"It was horrible, really horrible," said Michael Childs.

On March 29,Childs was outside the one-storey house on the main road in Lark Harbour, trying to divert water that was pooling on his property.

Close to 100 millimetres of rain poured down that day, mixed with the snow. The weather caused major flooding in and around Childs's home.

Around 12:30 p.m., the land on the bank near his home gave way, causing a major landslide that pushed the house off its foundation.

"I turned around, the bank came down. It took the house and went on," said Childs.

His girlfriend, Crystal Macdonald, was inside the home.

"I heard another bang and the whole house just shifted," said Macdonald. "I'm sitting on the couch while this TV, this 55-inch TV,is coming down on me at the same time. I'm trying to fight that thing off and the house is just shifting."

Months later, the bruises have healed and the couple are living with Childs's parents home in nearby York Harbour.

But the house, which Childs's brother owns, is still shifting and turning on its side. The fridge is a twisted mess under the foundation. The furniture piled on the corner window in the lopsided house.

You can hear water trickling down all around the house, which is next to Big Brook. Childs says the house, which has been in the family for six decades, had already endured some water during spring runoff.

WATCH | This Lark Harbour resident describes his house of 70 years sliding off its foundation:

Rain washed his house right off its foundation. 6 weeks later, hes waiting for compensation

4 months ago

Duration 0:53

Michael Childs says the heavy rain that hit Lark Harbour on March 29 was gushing like a waterfall behind his house of nearly 70 years. The house then slid off the foundation. No one was hurt, but Childs tells the CBCs Colleen Connors he believes the building of a new road above the property is to blame for the improper water runoff. He wants compensation, but no one with the town is commenting.

He believes the construction of a new road above the house caused the water damage and landslide in late March.

"I think when they put water and sewer on Joyce's Hill, the engineers didn't map it out right of where to put the water, where to send the water. They just put the culverts across the road and shoot it down here," said Childs.

"I'm not blaming it on the people who live up there, but I mean, whoever put in the road should have had better sense toput the ditch on the opposite side and divert the water down the lane."

Private property problem

No one with the town of Lark Harbour would comment on the house or the damage, only to say that the house is on private property and it is not a town issue.

There was no insurance on the home. Provincial Emergency Services didn't consider the heavy rain in late March as an adverse event, which means the family cannot apply for its disaster financial assistance arrangements (DFAA)program.

Eddie Joyce, MHA for the Humber-Bay of Islands district, asked the Department of Justice and Public Safety toinvestigate the total costs of damages during March's weather and consider applying for financial aid. Joyce contacted the department on April5.

A month later, the department responded to Joyce's request saying Emergency Services did review the file and would not beactivating disaster relief funding for this event.

"The fact that the damage to houses in this case would be considered insurable and therefore not eligible for cost sharing, DFAA will not be activated for this event," Justice Minister John Hogan wrote in the letter

Childs says hewants to rebuild somewhere else in the area, on higher ground, away from the cascading water.

But the family does not have the financial means to move anything right now.

"It's been a trying time," said Childs.

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