Things had settled down almost to a routine by Thursday morning, if you can refer to an emergency shelter situation as routine.
The reception centre that was established in Estevan's Souris Valley Aquatic and Leisure Centre in the wake of the flood in southeast Saskatchewan Sunday night, was operating smoothly and without any major issues by mid-week, said Red Cross volunteer Pam Dechief who agreed to speak with The Mercury outside the centre since media were prohibited from entering the centre's central core.
Military style cots had been set up in the Lignite Miners Centre, while a dining section had been established close to the new Spectra Place entrance. The centre was still playing host to about 25 or 27 people four days after the evacuation notice had been issued for residents of Willow Park Greens mobile home park on the south edge of Estevan and the village of Roche Percee.
"The volunteer response has been incredible," said Dechief, adding that donations of all kinds, including food had been pouring in, much like the volume of water had been pouring into the lower regions of the valley that forms a half-moon just south of Estevan and into the community of Roche Percee.
On the first night of the evacuation, the reception centre housed 40 people who otherwise had no alternative accommodations. About a dozen others had found the few hotel rooms still available in the city while the majority booked in with relatives and friends. By Thursday morning, 633 people had registered with the centre.
"The spirit is overwhelming," said Dechief, a relative newcomer to the Red Cross support team that was deployed to assist with the registration efforts. "If we needed anything, it was found. The Salvation Army has been a huge element in this whole operation."
The centre was still operational last Friday, even after the all-clear signal had been given to the Willow Park Greens residents to return to their homes. But by then it was being used mainly as a clearing house for registrants and for communication services among the displaced and the volunteer agencies that were helping them.
There were even a few piles of pet food lined up to help the residents with their pets, as the days wore on.
"Some generous people arrived with some used materials that they were offering and we had to refer them to the Salvation Army's centre. Our centre was only to take in new product because nobody wanted to chance the contamination possibility that would have just added more problems on top of what they were already facing," Dechief said.
"Things could have been chaotic with the fair going on right in the front parking lot at the same time, but things worked out well. In fact volunteers from PennWest showed up and handed out ride tickets for the kids who were having to stay at the centre," said Dechief, referring to the volunteer spirit.
"The situation was monitored very well, security was strong, a lot of volunteers were available from churches, businesses like all the oil companies who sent crews over to move boxes or materials when they needed to be moved."
Dechief joined other Red Cross volunteers like Pat Gervais, Kathy Lafrentz and Gail Shirley and they were joined by a couple of other Red Cross volunteers who were dispatched from Moose Jaw to help out.
"It was a good experience for me since I'm pretty new, so to be deployed to a local response was interesting. You might say I had a home field advantage," Dechief said with a chuckle. "For instance, a lot of people kept referring to the mobile home park as Ambassador and those of us who who have been here for awhile know that this was the former name for Willow Park Greens. Volunteer registrars from outside Estevan who wouldn't have known that would have been confused," she said.
The Red Cross team and others stayed with the evacuated victims until the early morning hours of Monday, getting the registrations completed for the first 200 or more people who registered and then handled the rest of the registrations as they filtered in later Monday, including some from Roche Percee. The shifts started to take on a common theme of business between 8 a.m. and 10 p.m. every day after.
On Thursday morning, a Lions Clubs International representative, Bob Moore of Regina, district cabinet treasurer for District 5SKS, arrived in Estevan carrying a cheque in the amount of $6,500 which he turned over to local Lions Club incoming president Jake Dyck.
"I'm representing district governor Rob Hill from Maryfield," said Moore. "This money will let local Lions hand out vouchers to the flood victims for immediate needs like blankets, medicines, cleaning supplies and the like," Moore added, noting that another $3,500 was going to be distributed in Weyburn for similar needs.
"This is a grant from Lions Clubs International Foundation that supplies this kind of help for emergencies right around the world and this time it's here. Last year we did something similar for Maple Creek residents," Moore said.
