Walking to the bus may be a drag for some teenagers but for one Fort Fraser family, canoeing to the bus has become a harsh reality.
“It sucks,” Destiny Cameron, 15, said.
Destiny’s home sits on roughly 102 acres just east of Fort Fraser and has been completely surrounded by water for weeks. The 300 yard driveway is four feet under in some areas. The family must now canoe most of the driveway if they wish to leave, sometimes three or four times a day, April Powers said, mother of the two teens who reside at the home.
“Our house is literally an island right now,” Powers said.
Even the stable area at the back of the house has become wet - the place a foal named Barbie and a calf currently reside.
“The horses pen was dry this morning (May 29) but now theres water seeping in and both of their fields are completely under water,” Power said.
And if canoeing a quarter kilometre to get to their dry, parked vehicles isn’t enough, April also has a heart condition and bad knee.
“I’m on crutches right now and can’t get surgery for at least another month,” Power said. “If Dean wasn’t here I don’t know what I’d do.”
At one point, April’s husband Dean Kostiuk had to cut a hole in the fence to let a horse off an island in one of the fields since water had surrounded the animal.
“It’s just crazy, they have to be able to regulate [the river] a little better but, life goes on and we’re happy,” he said.