The community of Morley remains in crisis, as rainwater has washed out roads, waterlogged homes and backed up sewers on the Stoney Nakoda First Nation reserve.
Since the water started gathering on Thursday (June 20), Rhonda Wildman has been putting in 12- to 14-hour days collecting food and clothing, and working to provide a safe shelter for community members who have left their homes. Thanks to Wildman and a team of volunteers, the Morley Community School was transformed into a disaster-relief centre.
The community is home to about 3,000 people.
“People were having to leave their homes so quickly, they didn’t have time to grab clothing, or diapers, or formula,” said Wildman, co-ordinator of the disaster-relief centre. “We needed to a find a solution, so we put out a call to Cochrane, Calgary and other areas.”
The call was answered. On Sunday (June 23), truckloads of non-perishable food, clothing, diapers, cleaning supplies, dog food, towels and bedding arrived at the school. Cochranites dropped off donations at the Boys and Girls Club of Cochrane and Area to be taken to the reserve — the generosity filled two trucks and trailers. A convoy of supplies was delivered from Canmore as well.
The donations were welcomed, as were the number of volunteers who arrived. Wildman said this allowed the evacuation crew to focus on reaching any missing community members — a problem for the spread-out reserve.
“Until Sunday, there were so many people who were unaccounted for,” said Wildman. “They were running low in food and water, we had to go looking for them.”
Wildman said all unaccounted for community members were located by the end of the weekend. Many of the missing had no idea a crisis centre had been set up, she added. Instead, these residents were battling against the rainwater by themselves, trying to rebuild roads and empty their waterlogged homes on their own.
“Now that we know where everyone is, we have trucks and people travelling out to them and dropping off necessities,” she said.
As of Monday (June 24), donations were still needed. Wildman said organizers are attempting to collect enough necessities to tide families and the crisis centre through another seven days.
According to the provincial government’s Alberta Emergency Alert website on Tuesday (June 25), the evacuation of the Stoney Nation continues.
Provisions collected at the centre are being sorted and dispersed throughout Morley and Eden Valley.
Donations can be dropped off directly at Morley Community School, or at Cochrane’s Bentleys Books.
In addition, drop-in programs at the Spray Lake Sawmills Family Sports Centre are free June 29 and 30 with a donation of food or blankets to go to relief efforts in Morley.
