Help Michelle & James Hintz rebuild!

November 15 2021. 2:37am. Coldwater Ave. Merritt BC.

Day 1:

*Ding dong*

*knock-knock*

James running to the door as I attempt to open one eye.. "wha-why-flashing lights..?" Hear James talking to a man at the door.. "evacuate immediately".. I untangle myself from my blankets & head to the entryway.. "river over the bank".. "The Coldwater?" I ask.. Fireman nods & explains with hand gestures "it's at the bank & coming over in the park"...

Eyes wide open, head in a fog. No time to think. Run around packing a few clothes & try to grab precious mementos. Grab dogs ashes & collars & our wedding log. File boxes. Hook up trailer. Left at 310am. Register with ESS in Merritt & head to slightly higher ground. Couple hours later the City's water treatment plant floods & entire city evacuated. We head to Kamloops once all inlaws have safe places to go. Re-register with ESS. Sit in the truck in the parking lot in the pouring rain. Wait. And wait. And wait. I couldn't bear the thought of sleeping in the parking lot so we start phoning every pet friendly hotel in Kamloops. Finally got a room in the 8th place we called. Praying there was enough room on the credit card. 2 days later we get the call ESS will start covering expenses.. thank God!

Day 3: Insurance declined because we were evacuated due to flood.

Day 9: We gave our key & permission to a SARS angel to enter our house to salvage my Great Grandma's 100+yr old cedar chest & a box of James' photos. Chest is still drying out at a friend's.

Day 10-14: 2 more "atmospheric rivers" hit. Luckily, no further flooding.

Day 15: Our first trip back to Merritt since we were evacuated. We were hoping to gain escorted access to salvage a few keepsakes but no one from the City would even tell us who to ask. Couldn't see any of the damage anywhere. Third atmospheric river this week hits. Dykes & river banks hold!

Today is Day 17: 17 days our home has had a dangerous concoction of water, sewer, silt, mud & who knows what else sitting in it. High humidity. Temperatures have reached +14C. Not even cold enough to freeze at night. Perfect conditions for explosive mold growth. 6+" of muck in our yard. Our landlord till can't even get to Merritt due to damages to the highways from these storms.

The City of Merritt is expected to have a news release finally granting phase 4 residents THEIR FIRST ACCESS TO THEIR HOMES starting Friday. Those of us in phase 4 (about 500 homes) are the ONLY ones who have not been able to see our homes since this started.

We are looking at a total loss of our belongings. The BC Disaster Relief Fund will help us with just the very basics of a bed, couch etc, but will not cover any tools. Nor spare jeep parts. Nor anything extra. Our insurance coverage limit was $77500. Plus $15000 in living expenses, but they denied us due to flooding.. even their sewer & surface water rider does not cover flood. 11 years of paying renters insurance & now that I need it they've abandoned us. So I reluctantly started this GoFundMe to attempt to get some help to get us back on our feet. We need a place to live. Money to buy clothes. Furniture. Everything. Those who know us know we don't ask for help so this is extra hard... please, anything you can spare would help so much!