ROLLA, BC – A woman from Rolla feels lucky to be alive and is warning others to be aware about the history of their own properties.
After the ground she was standing on suddenly gave way, Donna Kane believes her sudden fall was a result of the on-going drought conditions in Northern BC.
Kane was standing on a patch of grass next to her sundeck, when she suddenly found herself falling into an abandoned septic tank.
“Without warning, the earth gave way, and I went down. I didn’t know I was in a tank, but I knew I was in water,” said Kane.
The freezing cold water she was in, was inside a 60-year-old septic tank underneath her lawn that she figured hadn’t been used in decades. With the water level nearing her neck, Kane was able to barely reach the top of the newly formed hole.
“It was over my head, but I was able to hold on to the surface of the earth for a while. I just hung on and tried to decide how long I was going to hang on for,” said Kane
Kane yelled for help hoping her husband Wayne could hear her from inside the house. But Kane said, being in a hole with heavy winds drowned out those calls for help.
Finally, Wayne realized something was wrong and came outside to discover Donna stuck in the hole. “I thought, oh, my goodness, I’m going to die seven feet from the door of my house. It was a very strange feeling to be in a place that you feel is like one of the safest places you can be, and then suddenly find yourself in a situation where you think you might die,” said Kane.
Kane said she had no clue that an old septic tank was just below the surface of her lawn. She said her fall was caused due to no moisture being left in the soil, after two years of drought in the region.
“The ground is super, super dry and normally clay holds together really well. But you can see the clay is like popcorn and it turned to crumbs, which is nothing I’ve ever seen in my lifetime. I think that that’s what made the Earth gave way. It couldn’t hold together anymore, and it just collapsed,” said Kane
Kane is cautioning other property owners and those who own old homesteads to be aware of the history of their property.
“It’s a good idea to check it out and if you see any little depression in the lawn, I would definitely recommend checking it out,” said Kane
Property records can be viewed by contacting the Peace River Regional District. “You can go to the regional district and get records on your property, and they will tell you what existed there before. You can also get a radar system that you can scan your yard and see what’s underneath,” said Kane