Tony Andlang, who lives in a villa outside Hunnebostrand in flood-stricken Bohuslän, estimates that there was up to 30 centimetres of water in the basement “when it was at its worst.”
“Every room was filled with water except the bathroom. My first thought was that there had been a backflow and that we were getting sewage, but that wasn’t the case,” he says.
We realised that we live a little below a road and a hill, and all the water that came from up there ran down to the plot and further into the house. Then we came to the conclusion that we couldn’t solve this on our own.
Maybe I should throw it away.
Tony acted quickly and called the fire service, which arrived with a pump at 7:30 a.m., just half an hour after the initial call. After a few hours, the job was done.
“My wife and I have spent the day scrubbing the floors. She has moved furniture to see what is damaged. We don’t really know what is damaged yet. In the worst case, we will have to throw things away,” he says.
Right now, it looks like the house itself has escaped damage.
At least, it’s not something we’ve seen, but a technician will come in the next few days and check it out.
With some optimism, he adds that it could have been worse and that “it’s nothing to be taken lightly.”
It is what it is, you just have to solve the problem.
Alarm about several water-damaged houses
SMHI (the Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute) has issued a yellow warning for high flows in Bohuslän, Dalsland and parts of Värmland after heavy rain fell overnight Thursday. The warning is valid until 9:00 a.m. on Friday.
According to Crisis Information, the rescue service in Bohuslän has received several alarms about water damage in houses on Thursday morning.
In Sotenäs municipality, where Hunnebostrand is located, the local fire service says that around 30 houses have been affected. It is unclear how many have been affected in the entire county.
