Lincoln warned on flooding plans

LINCOLN – With temperatures dropping, the ground waterlogged by heavy rains and the area abounding with aging homes, families might find themselves homeless just like the Cole family unless they take precautions, town officials said Friday.

Ruth Birtz, the town’s economic development assistant and a zoning enforcement officer, warned residents to make certain they are insured against flood damage or have solidly reinforced foundations.

“Hopefully this won’t happen to anybody else because it is a really sad story,” Birtz said Friday, “but I wouldn’t be surprised if it did. A lot of people think they get flooding only if they live in a flood zone, but this is a very wet area with a lot of aging housing and we have had unusually heavy rainfall this year.”

The six-member Cole family has lived at Lincoln House Motel since Nov. 22, when heavy rains and mud flow around their one-story house helped crack and bow the east side of the cement foundation, forcing firefighters to condemn the wood frame structure on West Broadway.

The bowed-in portion of the foundation remained standing only because it was braced by an oil tank and piping. Fire Chief Joshua L. Williams warned Thursday that further damage, caused by ice, frost or more rain, is likely without immediate repairs.

With as much as $40,000 needed for repairs, no insurance coverage and more damage-inducing weather on the way, the Cole family is considering abandoning its home of six years, Jaimi Cole said.

“We want to get out of the hotel room but also have a long-term place to live,” Cole said Friday. “We have no way of paying the mortgage and making a rent payment.”

Officials from Liberty Mutual Group Insurance Co. of Danvers, Mass., told the Coles on Friday that their home insurance failed to cover the damage done, citing the policy’s lack of flood insurance and the house’s being built without a foundation footing, a concrete floor or connecting rods between the foundation slabs.

“We were expecting it. Right now I am just waiting to get in touch with the mortgage company to see what we’re going to do next,” said Cole, 33, a secretary.

Town officials have referred the Coles to several social service and state agencies that are helping the six-member family, covering its rent at the motel and meet other immediate needs.

The agencies might also be able to help the Coles find grants or funding for the repairs, town officials have said.

Still, the Coles will likely need to give away their cats, Sammy and Gabby, to help them find an apartment in this apartment-sparse area, Jaimi said.

The Cole’s house seemed otherwise OK, but there were still trouble signs: the lack of cement flooring and a crack in the foundation were apparent before the disaster. The ground around the foundation was laced with clay instead of stone, leaving it unusually vulnerable to shifts caused by rain and frost, Cole said.

The Coles received a certificate of occupancy from the town and insurance when they moved in six years ago because Lincoln lacks building codes that would force foundation inspections, and the house, which was built in 1955, had been fine until Nov. 22, Birtz said.

The state Legislature might introduce municipal building codes next year, but even if that happens, most area housing would be grandfathered unless it undergoes significant alterations, Birtz said.

Birtz knows the Cole’s pain.

A mudslide took out part of her Taylor Street house’s foundation on April 2, damage that was not covered by insurance.

Birtz and her husband, Scott Birtz, struggled with insurance companies and the Federal Emergency Management Agency, among others, to get help with the damage before using retirement funds to help pay for the repairs.

“I would not be surprised if we see more of this,” Birtz said.

Anyone wanting to help the family may send donations to their church, the Community Evangel Temple, Access Road, Lincoln 04457, or to the Cole family at P.O. Box 835, Lincoln 04457.