Carmi Russell's son Derek Waters and Zoey sit in a third-floor Avenue Living apartment on Carswell Road that has flooded for the second time in the past six months. Renter Carmi Russell will be moving out at the end of the month.--NEWS PHOTO
Medicine Hat News
A Medicine Hat woman has been left with more questions than answers after the apartment she rents from Avenue Living flooded Friday for the second time in six months.
Carmi Russell moved into 46 Carswell Rd. last April, and her apartment flooded on her and her dog twice, once on Christmas morning and once Friday — resulting in soggy, dirty floors, damaged electronics, destroyed furniture and a potentially sick K9 friend.
“On Christmas, I’d say it was about a foot-and-a-half of water,” she said. “Today I’m not sure how much water it was, I had gotten a call after it was all cleaned up, but I know there was enough to get dirt all over my floors and to really just get all over the place.
“I haven’t even heard from Avenue Living today. The last time this happened they tried to blame me, threatened to sue me and not renew my lease.”
During both floods, Russell’s dog Zoey has been home, and at risk of being harmed by the boiling water flooding her place.
“I have a 65-pound pitbull here and she’s obviously very important,” she said. “The first time I was able to get her out because we were both home on Christmas, so we were lucky.
“This time, she was stuck in her kennel in this boiling hot water, steam and apparently sludge and anti freeze — we’re still not sure if anything bad has happened to her.”
Russell says she will be moving out as soon as she can find a new place in the city.
“I was planning on moving at the end of the month, so I guess I’ll just be moving out a bit sooner,” she said. “I don’t know where it will be, but I know for sure it won’t be Avenue Living.
“I would not recommend renting with them to anyone. I will be consulting a health officer and I will be contacting a lawyer as well.”
