Tornado victims find possessions and help at disaster-relief event
Ruth Sirman begins Thursday night’s community meeting of the West Carleton disaster relief effort by listing some of the hundreds of personal items volunteers have recovered since tornadoes devastated the region three weeks ago.
More than 100 affected residents at the Kinburn Community Centre pore over folding tables full of clothing, children’s toys, sets of keys, eyeglasses, tools, a canvass print that was found hanging in a tree in the swamp, and hundreds of family photos, wedding invitations and baby pictures.
A war medal was recovered from the rubble, one volunteer pipes up from the back of the room, giving his contact information and explaining the keepsake was far too precious to be left out on the table.
“Hey, these are my clothes,” exclaims Hailey Lowden, 22, as she’s reunited with an armful of sweaters that were blown clear from her upper-floor bedroom at her family home on Thomas A. Dolan Parkway when the tornado touched down.
“We lost our full upper floor, and everything that was there ended up in the woods way in behind. I’m wearing all donated clothes tonight,” she said.
“This means a lot. It’s great to see everyone helping out … people showed up right after it happened to help get everything out of our house that was left.”
The volunteer-run West Carleton Disaster Relief group, formed in the storm’s aftermath to collaborate community efforts and manage donations, gave updates and information to residents on everything from insurance claims to aid agency relief packages to mental health services.
The primary contact point — at WestCarletonRelief@gmail. com — has been fielding up to 100 emails a day, organizers said, with volunteers from community groups in Kinburn, Dunrobin, Corkery and Constance Bay.
“We’re making sure these people can get through these next three to six months to the rebuilding period, because it’s obviously very difficult to try to navigate something like this on your own,” said Len Russell, one of the community leaders from Constance Bay.
“There’s a number of things these people have to deal with right now — and there’s a perception that if you’re insured it’s all good. But that’s not the case,” he said.
“You don’t expect when you get insurance that you’re going to need to pull up every tree on the lot, or replace a septic system. I don’t think most of the population is prepared to become homeless overnight.
“It’s an extraordinary burden on families; many of these homes were severely affected, and a lot of the areas that were hit are younger families. It’s not like we have millions in the bank. This kind of thing leaves a very big mark.”
Sirman said many of the residents were still suffering from “critical incident stress.”
She directed people to the West Carleton Regional Resource Centre, which is offering short-term counselling to those in need.
“People may be having flashbacks, not being able to concentrate, not being able to sleep, having issues with their appetite,” Sirman said.
“This is a perfectly normal response to what was an incredibly abnormal event,” she said. “In other words, you are not losing your mind … I don’t think there’s anybody here who’s OK. I don’t think there’s anybody here who’s fine.”
Organizers directed residents to a Facebook group — the Dunrobin Disaster Assistance Group — offering updates and contacts to a number of community resources.
“The people, particularly the ones who have been left homeless, I don’t think any of us can put ourselves in their shoes,” Russell said. “But the community coming out has been incredible. During the (2017) floods, thousands came to help in Constance Bay, and thousands came here to help (after the tornado) in Dunrobin.”