Jolene and Andre Bard had never imagined that the suitcases they used to move from Australia to their new Nepean home last August would end up on their front lawn as garbage.
But least expected of all was the couple’s Facebook Marketplace scavenger hunt for those same 12 suitcases.
The Bards don’t have a special emotional attachment to the products.
The suitcases, however, were among the estimated $30,000-worth of household items that had to be thrown out after they were contaminated with sewer water following last month’s intense Canada Day storm .
According to the city’s latest update, since July 1, the city has collected more than 2,600 tonnes of storm debris. This was done after the city announced that it would temporarily waive its three-item limit rule on curb side garbage pickup for three most affected wards, which included the Bard family’s residence.
Now, there is no more storm debris on Jolene and Andre front lawn. The city’s efforts certainly helped accelerate the disposal of the contaminated products, but so did storm scavengers.
The Bards are now sharing a warning. The couple say strangers have been taking some of their items, including luggage and Legos, even though they were still filled with sewage water.
“I’m worried some people may try to sell it on Facebook Marketplace,” Jolene said. “That’s my biggest worry.”
But Jolene says using it for personal use is still not a good idea because products contaminated with sewer water can lead to serious health concerns, including bacterial infections.
The city follows Health Canada guidelines, and sewage-tinged food, water or products pose a “severe biohazard risk due to dangerous pathogens,” according to the national health agency.
The overarching guideline is to immediately dispose of these items because they cannot reliably be sanitized for safe use, the agency says.
“That was why we threw everything out,” Andre said.
Jolene and her husband had been periodically checking Facebook Marketplace over the last few weeks to see if people were reselling items online. The suitcases are distinctive enough to recognize online, Jolene said, but they haven’t come across the items so far.
“You can only find these luggage in Australia where we were living and they’re very distinctive,” Jolene told the Ottawa Citizen. Andre said it was an American Tourister suitcase that had an R2D2 printed on it.
For Lisa Gee, who lives in the College ward, another one of the three hardest hit by the flood, she has seen multiple strangers picking up furniture and other belongings off of her and her neighbours’ front lawns.
She says she is also concerned that they may be resold to unsuspecting customers online.
For the Bards, the first incident happened shortly after post-flood cleaning up started.
“We were out all day cleaning,” Jolene said, adding that they had thrown out massive amounts of their belongings outside.
The pile had several types of exercise weights, including 46-pound dumbbells and two big Tupperware boxes full of close to 100 Lego sets. They all mysteriously disappeared the next day.
What had clued the Bards in, though, was the man who had stopped that day to ask if the belongings on their lawn were free to take.
“It’s full of poo-water, you don’t want to take it,” Jolene recalled telling the man. She also warned him not to sell it. He didn’t take anything that day. When Jolene came back the next morning, however, the weights and Lego sets were gone.
“If kids are playing with that, like little kids putting it in their mouth or touching their hands and touching their mouth, that’s dangerous,” Andre said.
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