Sechelt’s Seawatch neighbourhood is now behind locked security fencing, and the ultimate fate of the subdivision’s high-end homes is uncertain, after an evacuation order went into force at 1 p.m. Feb. 15.
The neighbourhood had been on evacuation alert since Feb. 7 after a report from Thurber Engineering, which has been monitoring the area since a new sinkhole appeared Dec. 25, concluded that the risk of damage to property, injury or death was too great to allow people to remain in their homes.
Mayor Darnelda Siegers said last Friday that it’s too early to say if the homes can ever be made safe to live in again. “We don’t know whether or not there will be access back in there ever.”
Siegers also said the district has been working with Emergency Management BC and structural and geotechnical engineers to see if there’s any way the roads can be shored up to allow residents back in temporarily. When asked about it at the Feb. 20 council meeting, she said the district expected to hear back from those experts as early as Friday.
After the evacuation, most residents gathered at an Emergency Social Services reception centre to register to receive food, lodging, clothing and “emotional support” for the following 72 hours.
Public Safety Minister Mike Farnworth said last week that residents should not expect any other compensation from the province, repeating the position taken in 2015 when there was a request for disaster financial assistance after one family was forced to abandon its home.
“It was determined that damages incurred are related to the pre-existing geotechnical challenges. As such, this incident cannot be attributed to a sudden catastrophic event as is required by the legislation,” Farnworth said.
Siegers said there were no talks between the municipality and the minister or his office before he made the statement.
She also said the answer to whether there will be any compensation from the district is “no,” at least for now, but added at Wednesday’s council meeting that while “there was no movement yet,” there are a few avenues being explored.
Coun. Matt McLean, who was in Victoria for the budget speech Tuesday, said he was able to speak briefly with Minister Farnworth, who told him he was aware of the situation and it had been brought to the premier’s attention as well, but little else.
Residents worked right up to the evacuation deadline to try to move their belongings, with the help of dozens of community members who showed up with trucks, trailers, food and coffee, or an extra set of hands.
Those who talked to Coast Reporter said they planned to move in with friends or family or into temporary rentals, but the majority of their possessions had to go into storage.
Seawatch residents in the gallery at the council meeting said they believe the owners of as many as five of the homes were unable to remove anything before the deadline, and most others had left at least some of their belongings behind.
In an email to media, homeowner Chris Moradian said, “I would like to thank our entire community for all your help, generosity and coming to our aid in such difficult times. We could not have done it without you.”
Moradian’s neighbour, Rod Goy, said earlier that they’d all been overwhelmed by the response and it even had him and his wife rethinking an earlier impulse to never return to Sechelt. “The last place in the world we were going to live would be Sechelt,” he said. “Now because of the community support in the last days, we’re thinking we might have to reconsider that, because this is one hell of a community.”
The gratitude was matched in many cases with anger over the district’s handling of the evacuation notice and order.
Ed and Rae Dene Pednaud said the district should have let people “leave with dignity” and others said the district should have offered help getting residents out.
Siegers, who also praised the community response, said the district had to put the safety of its staff first. “Given the site is not safe, that is what has been determined by the geotechnical reports we’ve got, we as a municipality cannot ask our staff to go into the site.”
Coun. Alton Toth used his report at the Feb. 20 council meeting to acknowledge that “the last week and a half has been tough on Sechelt” and to thank the community for stepping up “in a way that the municipality itself could not.”
At least three online fundraising efforts have been launched, including one on the crowd-funding website Fundrazr under the title “Please help the families of Seawatch” that’s already brought in close to $10,000.
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