What should be still the honeymoon stage for a new homeowner has turned into a muddy mess.

Last Friday's (June 21) torrential downpour has caused nothing but stress and grief for Gemma Noon, her spouse, as well as her parents that reside with them in the community of Sunset Ridge. 

Only taking possession of their Sundown View home seven weeks ago, Noon says the flooding of their street not only affected their vehicles but the basement of their brand new house as well. "We had three cars written off. One has been officially written off and the other two we are just waiting for the final 'yes'. My car, my dad's car, and my husband's car all got totalled. We believe the water at its highest point was about three feet according to one of our neighbours; by the time we came and took photos of it, the Ford Fusion and the Ford Focus it was at the top of the wheel and the insides were flooded up to the dashboard. The Rav 4 which was parked a little further up the road had water that came up over the seat."

With their driveway just being recently poured the family had no real choice but to street park, and now, is stuck without wheels.

Besides vehicle damage, the lower level of the home where Noon's parents reside was also affected. "One of the window wells, while we are not entirely sure yet, seems to have been clogged with mud and clay so it breached. My parents live in the basement and so they had water running all down the wall as it came in through the window."

Not faulting the builder, Noon shares their home builder Avi has been amazing to deal with and flew into action quickly once they heard the news. "They were out as soon as they could access it and they have already taken the drywall off to fix it, but unfortunately it means my parents have to move out of their brand new bedroom. So, for now, we have lost a huge chunk of drywall, the entire carpeting. and the underlay was soaked through across the whole room."

Dealing with two separate sets of insurance has also been onerous for the family, as they work through appraisals, estimates, and policy coverage. "Thankfully, it wasn't worse because it could have been, but it is definitely not fun. For the house, thankfully it is covered under the Alberta New Home Warranty Program, but with the cars, it has been interesting. We are with two different insurance companies, so we were able to get two towed almost automatically, but the third one just ended up sitting there stinking up until today (June 26). Everyone has been very sympathetic when they see the pictures, but it is not speeding anybody up when it comes to whether we'll be paid out so we can get on with our lives and get new cars."

While their new home will be repaired and vehicles eventually replaced, Noon isn't sure what financial implications she and her family will face when it comes to premiums. "We are hoping to find out because they were relatively new cars, but none of the insurance companies have really let us know how this is going to affect our premiums as we go ahead."

Although Noon and her family didn't have to use their overland flood coverage for their home, she is happy their mortgage broker stressed its importance. "I have cracked some jokes before that if we were flooded the rest of the town was a goner because of our location, but now I absolutely love that woman. It goes to show that even high up on a hill, in a relatively flat area, you should still have your overland flood insurance."

Unfortunately for Noon, her family, and neighbouring residents all that is left is a muddy, clay sludge. After numerous pairs of shoes and doormats being covered in clay, Noon eventually broke down and bought a pressure washer. "We got a pressure washer just to clean off the pavement because we couldn't get to our rental car without walking through mud and we were panicking thinking it may get trashed, and we would be charged for that."

With young children, elderly residents. and people with disabilities living on the street, Noon can only hope the sidewalks and streetscape gets cleaned sooner than later.

Giving kudos to those that helped with the initial clean up, aided in draining the roadways, and the Cochrane fire department, Noon shares that is the silver lining. "The nice side of it is that I got to meet quite a few of my neighbours, it just would have been nice if it was under better circumstances. It could have been a lot worse, at least no one was hurt."