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SENIOR LEFAIVRE COUPLE SEEKS URGENT HELP AFTER THE FLOOD
GREGG CHAMBERLAIN gregg.chamberlain@eap.on.ca
The spring flooding of the Ottawa River has created a potential health hazard for a retired senior couple in Lefaivre, but they say no one is willing to help them. i"MMXFOFFEJTTPNFIFMQ uTBJE&MJTF Kabo, 82, as she and her husband Alexander, 81, (known as ”Alec” to family and friends) survey the sloping back yard of their water- front property on Domaine Road in Lefaivre, which is part of Alfred-Plantagenet Township. The grassy edge of the lawn is splitting away and sloughing down onto the sand of the debris-littered shoreline of the Ottawa River. The Kabo’s property ends where the sand begins. The actual shoreline of the river is Crown land, belonging to the federal government as part of a marine easement along the Ottawa River. Flood problem The couple moved from Ottawa to Le- faivre in 2006. Alec Kabo recalled that their shorefront property and others at the time VTFEUPCFDPSOàFMET8IFOUIFZCPVHIU their property, he said, no one told them that they were building their retirement home in a flood plain. But it had never been a problem before now. Like many other riverside residents, the Kabos watched as the Ottawa River rose and covered part of their property during the recent spring flood. Their house is located high upslope from the river so it was never in peril.
Alec et Elise Kabo, un couple de retraités âgés d’environ 80 ans, sont debout près du bord de leur propriété riveraine, le long de la rivière des Outaouais à Lefaivre. La récente inondation printanière a miné la lisière de leur propriété au point qu’ils craignent une brèche possible dans leur champ d’épuration. Jusqu’à présent, ils n’ont pu trouver aucune source d’aide pour faire face à leur situation aux niveaux municipal, provincial ou fédéral. —photo Gregg Chamberlain
Kabo can’t do the work himself because of his age and health. He can’t afford to hire someone to do the work and even if he could, he said, the shoreline is federal property and going onto it to do any kind of repair or protection work for the septic field could leave him open to a charge of trespassing on Crown land. The situation has become exasperating for the couple. i8FSFTUSFTTFE uTBJE&MJTF,BCPi5IJT (repair) has to be done, and there is very little in our retirement fund.”
The problem for the Kabos is that they are on a septic system. The underground tank is safe and secure near the top of the backyard slope. But the septic field is downslope and that part of the yard was flooded this year. The scouring floodwaters eroded the edge of the property, causing the ground to slough as the river receded, putting the septic field at risk of exposure, thus creating a potential health hazard for the couple. Alec Kabo called the municipality at the start of the flood, about getting a sandbag dyke along the edge of the property to prevent river
erosion but was refused. “If they would have put a retaining wall there, I would not have the problem now,” he said. “It (sandbag dyke) would have contained the erosion on the river side.” Looking for help Since the flood waters receded, Alex Kabo has contacted all three levels of government about getting help to fix his property so that the septic field is contained and not at risk of a breach. But the municipal, provincial and federal governments have all declined responsibility.
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