Surviving the Flood: A First-hand Account - Association of ...

PETERBOROUGH FLOOD: SPECIAL REPORT TO CM
Surviving the Flood: A First-hand Account
An interview with Robert Babcock, RCM
On July 15, 2004, the skies opened and in a 6-hour period, close to 8 inches of rain
poured down on the city of Peterborough. A state of emergency was declared that lasted
nearly 18 days. One month after, CM magazine spoke with Robert Babcock, RCM, of
Babcock & Robinson, a 21-year-old property management firm in Peterborough, Ontario.
The company manages close to 500 units, nearly half of which are managed on behalf of
condominium corporations; the balance are houses and apartments. Bob gave this firsthand
account of what the flood recovery process was like for his company and his clients.
CM: How did you first hear about the flooding in Peterborough?
Babcock: The rains hit us in the early morning hours. By dawn we had accumulated
nearly 8 inches of rain. Between the hours of 3:30 and 4:30 a.m. alone, we received
nearly 3 1 /2 inches of rain. This was the second big flood to hit Peterborough in the last
two years. The prior one was June 2002 hitting most of Peterborough County. It was
amazing how this time the rain clouds hit simply within the city limits. There were some
2000 basements around town that needed to be pumped out by the fire department. Cars
were stranded. Dirt under sidewalks was washed away. I first heard about it at 6 a.m. with
condo owners and tenants calling my home to say water was coming in through their roof
or up through the storm sewers. With that amount of rain, even a good roof won’t hold
the water out – I had water coming through my living room ceiling in a couple of spots.
CM: What was the first thing you did when you realized the extent of the damage?
Babcock: We quickly put together a team of the people we would need on the road to
solve our problems. The team was headed by Bethann Corfe, my youngest daughter. She
has been my office manager for years. She assembled a crew that included a
maintenance/repair company, a roofer and a cleaning/carpet cleaning company. They
were fully dedicated to our needs. At this point we drove to several condominiums and
literally woke up owners to inspect possible damage. Being this proactive, we probably
woke up about half of the affected tenants before they knew they had a problem.
CM: What were the team’s first tasks?
Babcock: Our first task was to get homes dried out as quickly as we could. It ranged
from a couple of days to one week before we could get some of them dried out. Certain
parts of the city weren’t allowed to pump out basements because there was no place for
the water to go. Eventually they had to open the gates and let the water start flowing.
Next we got our landlord clients and insurance companies involved. Really at this point
we began the work of rebuilding.
The number one concern was the issue of mould. The Red Cross and a Health Unit
assisted with directions for how to dry everything and eliminate mould. Any basements
with drywall or wood – anything wet – had to be removed. Furnaces with even one inch
of water touching them had to be replaced. Hot water tanks, too. Rentals were replaced at
no charge. Gas companies were charging for replacements on a pro-rated basis.
Fortunately, we were able to save a number of rec. room carpets. We rolled carpets up,
and a local company cleaned, dried and stored them until we needed them returned.

Underpadding needed replacing, the basement needed to be dried and any exposed areas
treated to prevent mould. We even used a power washer when needed. I’ve heard of a
number of places that were not cleaned and dried properly and now the mould is
everywhere. We had to do all this with minimal disruption to our clients.
CM: Was the storm anticipated?
Babcock: There were storm warnings on the day but not more than usual. No one had
any idea it would be this bad. I suffer from migraines and what used to bring them on was
a low pressure system. I had a doozey of a migraine for a couple of days earlier and
should have known.
CM: Do you have an emergency plan in place for such an event?
Babcock: We don’t have a written plan in place simply because you don’t know what
you’re going to face and when. Two years earlier we had experienced a flood and five
years ago we had winter ice damming that affected about one third of Peterborough’s
condominiums with conditions that caused roofs to leak. From this experience we knew
how to deal with it.
CM: How did you know which suppliers to call for help?
Babcock: The roofer we’ve called on has completed about 80% of roof repairs we’ve
ever needed. The carpet cleaning company we’ve had under contract for a number of projects.
They were valuable for having the necessary equipment. The maintenance company
had pumps and the manpower to complete the task. It was a matter of solving the number
one priority: solve the owner’s problem and get the water out.
CM: What was damage like for your clients?
Babcock: In front of Peterborough Condo Corporation No. 1, a 22-unit townhouse in the
central part of the city, cars were floating up and down the street. You couldn’t see the
houses because of the garbage. The city estimated three years of garbage went to the
dump. We were fortunate that other communities pitched in to help. PCC #1 suffered the
worst damage [of my clients]. I had just signed a contract with PCC #1 on June 15. Thirty
days later – I’m the first property manager they’ve ever had. Since 1976 they’ve been
self-managed.
To date we’ve been able to teach them the basic condo rule: if something is broken you
fix it. It’s not “something is broken and we’ll fix it as we can afford it/plan for it” as a
homeowner might think. About half of the basements needed repair. I suggested a French
drain should be mandatory for their low lying location. We are slowly educating the
board and owners at meetings. In some cases there has not been enough money in the
reserve funds. In one case I will have to go to the board and owners to ask for $30,000 for
repairs.
CM: How have you and your team handled the phone calls and stress?
Babcock: Really it’s just turned in to a busy time. As a condo manager a lot of the job is
responding to owner concerns. This situation is just multiplying our regular workload
times 10. Fortunately my team is well prepared and well trained in crisis management.
Every situation is a potential crisis for the owners and that in turn becomes a crisis for us.
We get used to it. My staff is very dedicated. My staff and I are accessible 24 hours a
day. In fact, we weren’t able to get into our office until later in the afternoon on July 15

ecause 3 feet of water poured down the main street. Luckily we’re on the second floor.
But older files that were stored in the basement two floors down were destroyed. We did
save some newer files that had been stored on top.
CM: Were you able to learn any lessons from this experience?
Babcock: In speaking with other managers around town who have had to deal with mass
problems, they’ve really had difficulty coping with the stresses of the flooding and
recovery. I like to think we’re really well trained in being prepared for this kind of thing.
We remind our boards of security and fire safety issues on a regular basis.
But when a condo owner has a crisis, it becomes our crisis. Number one priority is to
solve the problems for individual owners. By putting an entire team together, we were
able to be proactive. I like to think that our boards and owners are confident that our team
will take care of any of their problems. They rely on us.
CM: It’s late August, what stage are you at now?
Babcock: Clean-up is pretty well complete. At this point we’re in the drying stage. And
waiting for insurance adjusters to get the estimates done. A certain amount of rebuilding
is happening but we could be weeks away from getting insurance estimates for the
damages. A lot of properties weren’t insured. More insurance companies may be
canceling policies and not writing new policies. There will probably be substantial policy
increases.
*
* Condominium Manager Magazine – Fall 2004