Five years ago, Mark Hoyles built a cabin in Bottomless Pond that he’s now worried may be lost to flooding.
“We just liked the scenery and everything in there,” said the Deer Lake man on Friday afternoon.
His brother, Melvin Hoyles, had decided to build a cabin in the Goose Arm area and convinced him to build alongside.
Hoyles said the pond started to rise after the heavy rain storm back in January that caused flooding around the west coast.
In the last three weeks though the water has been getting into the cabins located around the pond, which normally drains from the bottom.
Hoyles figures that when the flood occurred it washed out the road and hillside, sending all that ground into the pond. As a result, the drain in the bottom of the pond got plugged.
Normally, he can drive right to the door, but the two access roads are impassable.
His cabin has about three-and-half feet of water in it and as of Wednesday his brother’s cabin started to take on water.
Another neighbour has about the same amount of water as he does and one across the pond has more.
There are five cabins in there and two school buses that are used as cabins; one of those is completely submerged.
“She’s nowhere to be seen,” said Hoyles, who has never seen the pond rise like this before. It’s the first time that anybody ever knows of that the pond has risen to this height.”
The situation has cabin owners trying to figure out what can be done and Hoyles said they have been talking with government and with dredging companies.
“We’re hoping she starts holding her own and starts draining off now before it goes too far.”
If it doesn’t start draining he said the pond will have to rise about another 60 feet higher at its lowest point in order to drain anywhere.
Hoyles does have insurance on the cabin, but has been told it does not cover overland flooding. He figures he’s invested close to $50,000 into the cabin.
“The sad part about it is we can’t access it. We can’t even get into the cabins and get our stuff out, other than what we can bring out by boat.”
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police issued an advisory on the flooding Friday afternoon. It said the flooding was about 12 kilometres from Grand Stone Road and that the pond has risen up to 12 feet above normal.
Boaters are being asked to stay off the water in the event of sudden draining and the general public is also being asked to stay away from the area.
Police are working with the province to monitor the situation.
