The Rev. Jaime Case pointed to dirt and condensation on the basement window, showing how high stormwater had filled one of the window wells Thursday. He could only imagine the amount of pressure pushing against the glass as water began seeping in.
The flooding at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church from Thursday’s cloudburst was poorly timed. The west Vancouver church is slated to open a women’s shelter in the basement before the end of the month. Last winter the church hosted 12 women and was going to expand the program by two more rooms, providing overnight shelter to an additional six homeless women. The water came into one of those new rooms.
During the storm, church staff were at Burgerville doing a fundraiser for homeless children.
Volunteers, though, were on church property prepping for a future work day. They heard the sound of running water and discovered the flooding. They frantically used towels, buckets and shovels to try to catch water and haul it to drains. Then they used wet vacuums to remove some of the water and set up dehumidifiers. Furniture was raised onto blocks and carpet was torn out of the most-damaged room.
Case, the rector at St. Luke’s, said the water came down the slope on 27th Street and flooded the church’s peace garden. Then it sloshed over a low curb and started filling a window well.
Fortunately, he said, the windows had just been replaced; the old, single-pane windows likely would have burst from the water pressure, causing more damage. What’s more, the room that had the most flooding was where the church stored clothing for its clothing closet, but those things had recently been moved upstairs in preparation for the women’s shelter.
“It could’ve been a lot worse,” Case said.
Still, water came and ran through the section of the basement where the Women’s Housing and Transition, or WHAT shelter, was being set up. Women stayed at the church last winter. The shelter has been located at St. Paul Lutheran Church since April, but has to be relocated since St. Paul hosts homeless men starting in November.
A remediation company that’s taken over the restoration said drying out St. Luke’s basement should take about a week. So, all the work that needs to get done to set up for the WHAT shelter has to be postponed until then.
“We were just starting on the expansion when all this hit,” Case said. “We’ve got some exhausted staff and some really tired volunteers.”
On the other side of the church is a dry well that catches water, but Case wants to get connected to the city’s storm drain system or have something else built that would help catch water that runs down 27th Street and pools next to the church.
“When it gets against the building, it can’t go anywhere,” Case said. “There was so much water.”
He said he’s told the city about ongoing issues with water running down 27th Street.
“Hopefully, the city will help us now,” he said.
