Oakland animal shelter still suffers from flood in August
By LAUREN MENNEN
OAKLAND – Two months after a water main break damaged the shelter, the Ramapo-Bergen Animal Refuge (RBARI) is still in debt.
The RBARI suffered from a water main break in August/PHOTO Lauren Mennen
This animal shelter is up to more than $100,000 in repair costs for pet and office supplies, de-sanitatizing, and tile replacements from the break on Aug. 16. Walls and floors still need to be redone, bathrooms still need to get fixed, and piles of debris still need to be picked up outside of the shelter. Officials say they’re still waiting to hear back from the insurance company, although the policy won’t cover everything.
“We haven’t been reimbursed from the insurance yet. We used the money from donations from the public, and we paid out of pocket for the de-sanitizing, which was over $6,000. My assistant director of the shelter follows up every week with them [the insurance company], and hopefully we will get an answer soon,” said Christine Taylor, the executive director of the RBARI.
The Ramapo Bergen Animal Refuge (RBARI) is located on 2 Shelter Lane, and currently houses 30 dogs and over 40 cats. Luckily, the shelter didn’t have to scale back any services to animals since the water break. Adoptions, pet care, and all other related business with the animals have been running fine.
At about 1 p,m. on that summer Monday, a water main broke up the street from the RBARI. Two-hundred-thousand gallons of water poured into the building, flooding the first floor, and rupturing a brand new sewage system, which ultimately caused the shelter to shut down for one week.
This sewage system, which cost $45,000 and was just installed the week before the incident, added a whole other problem besides just the building flooding. All of the hazardous waste that poured out of the septic tank contaminated everything in the building: the bedding, food, crates, office equipment, and so on. Although the water only reached the first floor, toxic fumes still escalated everywhere. Special equipment had to be brought in, such as UV lights to kill bacteria and germs, and heavy duty fans to dry out everything to avoid mold and mildew, which was extremely costly.
While the brand new sewage system did cause plenty of damage, it also worked in the shelter’s favor.
“What saved us [from more flooding] was the septic tank because the water went into them. It filled the tank up instead of flooding more of the building in the front. It would have been a lot worse if they weren’t there,” said Taylor.
Taylor was giving a presentation in Ramsey when she first heard the news. She stopped the presentation and made it to the shelter within 10 minutes. When she first got there she saw the water flooding through the back of the shelter. “It looked like Niagara Falls,” she said.
Her first priority was to get all of the animals out, which included about 50 cats and 30 dogs. Fortunately, all animals got out safely within 15 minutes, and no human or animal was injured.
Two of the dogs on the first floor were nursing moms with puppies. “If they had stayed in there, god forbid it had happened at night, they would have drowned,” Taylor said.
Luckily the flood occurred in the afternoon so there was a full staff to help and call the police and fire department immediately. During the night there is only one caretaker who lives in the gift shop building, which is adjacent to the shelter. That building did not get one drop of water on it, only the shelter was affected.
During the week that the shelter was closed, three vets around the area helped out. The Ramapo Valley, Franklin Lakes, and Pompton Lakes animal hospitals housed the animals and notified local residents to donate supplies that were damaged. Most animals were brought to these vets until they were taken into foster homes.
“They dropped dogs and cats off here throughout the afternoon. We kept them here until foster people picked up the animals, and we made sure they had food and any medical attention needed,” said Donna Van Ry, a receptionist for the Ramapo Valley Animal Hospital.
New supplies that were donated/PHOTO Lauren Mennen
Van Ry also said that they advertised that the RBARI was in need of help as soon as the incident occurred. They posted signs in each examining room, and put a notice on their website. Many clients reacted and donated food and bedding supplies.
Taylor said people from all over the community were very helpful. They donated office desks, chairs, crates, food, filing supplies, and pretty much anything needed that was damaged. Without the community’s help, they would have had to pay a lot more out of their own pockets.
The J-B Wholesale Pet Supplies store is located less than a mile away from the animal shelter, which also contributed to the donations.
“I personally donated blankets and bedding that they needed. We had a lot of customers come into J-B that purchased items off the shelters wish-list,” said a salesperson at J-B who only identified herself as Virginia.
Two feet of the walls still need to be replaced from the flood/PHOTO Lauren Mennen
Even with the help from the community, the shelter is still not in perfect condition two months later. Most of their supplies are replaced, thanks to the generous donators, but there are still a number of things that needs to be fixed.
The water and sewage flooded up to two feet in the first floor, so they had to tear off that much of the wall that was contaminated. Those walls and plasterboards still need to be repaired. All of the bathrooms where the water flowed still have yet to be redone as well, which is at least $10,000. The floor has to be replaced and the tiles have to be fixed up to two feet.
Much of the debris from the flood is sitting on the lawn outside of the shelter, which insurance won’t let them touch for legal reasons. This huge pile of garbage contains ruined office chairs, crates, food, and many other things that were damaged. Hopefully RBAR officials will get an answer soon from insurance for when they will be reimbursed.
Piles of debris still lay on the shelter's back lawn over two months after the flood. PHOTO/Lauren Mennen
The shelter is up and running despite the conditions they still have to deal with from the flood in August.
“No animals were harmed or humans. That’s the most important thing,” Taylor said.
The RBARI staff are now looking into getting some type of alarm system on the back of the door in case something like this happens again.