'The house is basically rotting': Flooded homeowner still waiting for inspection

Winter may be months away, but Elizabeth Tomaras is worried her Vaudreuil-sur-le-Lachome won't be ready to withstand the approaching cold after she lost her furnace, hot water tank and much of the building's insulation in thespring's floods.

Water from nearby Lake of Two Mountainsinundated her basement, lapping at her living room on the main floor.

She and her husband had to live with their parents for two months after the floodwaters subsided, while they ripped out their living roomfloor and parts of the wall.

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But the couple saysthe government still hasn't sent an inspector and until it does, they can't go ahead with the work that needs to be done to make their home habitableover the winter and to withstand future flooding.

In response to complaints of delays in July,Public Security Minister Martin Coiteuxsaidinspectors had visited 92 per cent of the homes that flooded to approve the work for which homeowners had received estimates from contractors.

Coiteux said the ministry had hired 90 more people to speed up inspections and that it was issuing 500 reports a week. At the time, he said he guessed thathomeowners whose homes had been inspected would receive their reports by mid-August.

Tomaras's househasn't even made it through the first step in the process yet.

Home 'basically rotting'

"Why is it taking so long for us?" she asks.

"The house is basically rotting," Tomarassaid when CBC News paid a visit toher home Monday."Is it going to get to a point where we can't renovate it anymore?"

A musty smell fills the rooms that were submerged. The couple moved all the furniture in the living room and "now we're just standing on two-by-fours with nails sticking out."

Tomarasbelieves there may have been damage her home'sfoundationand contaminationbecause "the water certainly wasn't clean water that flooded our house."

In June, the couple submitted claims for the food they lost a full fridge, freezer and pantry as well as for the number of hours they'd put in themselves, laying sandbags to try to prevent more flooding and ripping out floors and a wall.

Tomarassays that after those claims were reimbursed, "we felt the governmentwas really taking care of us."

"But now it definitely feels like we were put on the backburner."

Althoughtwo independent contractors have come to evaluate the home and provide estimates for the work it needs, as requested by the provincial government, Tomaras said she still hasn't had a response to her inspection request.

Olivier Cantin, aspokesperson for Coiteux,said inspections are going as planned and noted there's still time before the five-week deadline the ministry imposed on itselfin Julyto complete the files.

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