Residents in Princeton, B.C., sort through ruined belongings in flood-ravaged homes

Mario Loutef had little sleep the four days leading up to Saturday, when he piled his ruined belongings in the street outside his home in Princeton, B.C.

A vast swath of the downtown in the community two hours south of Kamloops was decimated when the Tulameen River overflowed its banks, flooding homes and forcing people to evacuate.

Many in the community are still on an evacuation alert, but for residents such as Loutef, the damage couldn't get any worse.

"It turned the corner and then it was like a tsunami because it filled up the little streets on the way here," he told The Canadian Press.

"But once those were taken care of, that's when the water took care of my space and everybody else on the road."

A thick coat of black mud has covered everything on the first floor of the home. Loutef has working round the clock since he was allowed access. Boards have been ripped off walls; a dirty line about two metres up on the wall shows how deep the water was.

"I lost everything. We lost everything, the wife and I. I don't know where to start. I don't know where it's going to end," said Loutef who has lived in the home for four years.

"I'm trying to save my tools, which is my bread and butter because if I don't have that, I can't make the revenue. I'm pretty much in the slop … pun intended."

Streets in the area are closed to traffic. Suction trucks are trying to remove standing water from some basements. The streets and sidewalks are covered in mud.

"It's like a one-man battle," said Loutef, who was working alone.

"I remember my wife saying, 'Don't forget to remove your shoes,' so I'm going to have to show her. She didn't want to come down here because she's undergoing a shock. She said no smoking in the house too," he said, flicking a cigarette butt onto the floor.

Piles of debris can be seen everywhere, but Lisa Brosseau and her husband Brian Quinn had friends come over to help.

Brosseau said despite having their basement flooded, she feels lucky because a previous owner had raised the home after a flood 35 years ago.

"We had a new Airbnb suite and that's gone, but the rest of our house is good. It never came into the top. We have our house. Many people around here don't and it's really difficult," she said.