Flood aftermath: Bedford Place Mall restoring damages caused by the flood

Bedford Place Mall is undergoing work to restore the shopping centre after damages caused by the flood forced the mall to close.

The mall which was once bustling with shoppers and commerce is now filled with crews drying and cleaning the remnants of the floodwaters.

The mall’s contractor Paul Davis, a water damage restoration service, from London, Ont., said there is still a lot of work that needs to be done.

“Two or three inches went through the mall so there’s silt and everything that’s in the river water has gone through the mall so it’s just a sediment that’s in the floors and obviously touched the drywall,” said Mark Blockeel, owner of Paul Davis.

Davis said the humidity outside is impacting the temperature in the mall, which made the first few days difficult for the crew. The team has six desiccant dryers and several air scrubbers throughout the mall to prevent any mold growth from getting worse.

“Just humidifying moisture out of the building so just lots of clean up [and] lots of crews,” said Blockeel.

While it is difficult to determine the costs of an undertaking such as this during the early days of repairs, Davis said it could cost up to $1 million.

Other damages outside the mall like broken pavements and debris was also being repaired by a different paving company.

Businesses inside the mall were seen loading trucks with possessions and merchandise.

Some businesses with separate entrances are planning to reopen tomorrow, however, they are still facing many challenges.

“We had to take all of our stock out and we’re not sure what the damages are so until we get everything back and examined, we won’t really be sure what we can keep selling and what we can’t,” said Lindsay Ambler, assistant manager at Pro Tailors.

While the stores merchandise may be damaged, Ambler said in many ways they were fortunate all of their client’s items were safely placed on a top shelf.

Ambler said these last few days have been extremely hectic, consisting largely of cleaning and calls to insurance.

“We had contractors come in that were sent by insurance companies, but we haven’t seen or heard from the adjuster yet,” explained Ambler. “Until we know what’s covered we just told the contractors to hold off on doing any work because we don’t want to be stuck with the bill if the insurance company says we don’t have coverage.”

Another business in the area told CTV News while they have contacted insurance and have been told they have a deductible for the floods, they have not yet received any additional information and are unsure of whether they will still be receiving anything.

Damages to businesses vary from store to store, depending on where in or around the mall it is located.

The steps of stairs in front of Cobs Bread, minimized the impact of the floodwaters within the bakery. However, the power outage in the mall caused problems with their inventory.

“We lost everything in our refrigerator, everything in our freezer, and we had to say goodbye to the levain we’ve been growing for quite a few years,” said Rebecca Cripps, owner of Cobs Bread.

Cripps said closures of any kind affects the bottom line.

“It wasn’t too long ago in September of last year we have the hurricane which also closed our businesses so we had lots of natural disasters and things taking place. Unfortunately it impacts our sales,” she said.

The Bedford Place Mall is still closed with no certainty of when it will reopen. However, business owners at the mall told CTV News that they have been told by the mall their plans for reopening will be Aug. 9.

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