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She’s been able to rescue pictures and videos of her children and has saved some clothes and other mementos. But she fears she will be unable to save her home whose cinder block foundation, she says, is completely done. And that terrifies her.

The 63-year-old had put her house on the market just a few weeks before the flood of the century. She hoped to move to a one-bedroom condo for her retirement — and had even picked one out.

Now she is faced with the prospect of having a house damaged beyond repair by floodwater, uninsured against flood damage and unsaleable.

She had to pay for a $1,300 pump to keep out flood waters on credit, much of what was in the basement has been damaged beyond repair and she thinks she will be left paying off a house that either requires a financial major investment to save or no longer has any value. “I will be in the hole for the rest of my life.”

She says her situation has left her so stressed that she is having a hard time functioning.

“It is like having a breakdown when you go through this. But what can you do but go forward?”

Photo by Wayne Cuddington / Postmedia

Courneyea is one of hundreds of people in Gatineau and many more throughout Eastern Ontario whose homes have been flooded. For many, the financial impact will be long-lasting.

Her children have started a GoFundMe campaign to help their mother, something she had no idea they were doing. Over the weekend they raised nearly $10,000.

“My mom, Mary, is the kindest soul I know — always helping others when in need and now I’m turning to my community for her support,” wrote her son McKenzie Thorne.