‘Something is going to blow’
High River tense over relief funds, evacuation
High River and Nanton — Tensions between High River residents and Alberta officials intensified Thursday, as those lining up for financial compensation from the province waited hours in the sweltering sun while others fighting to get back into the flood-ravaged community found themselves in a standoff against the RCMP.
About 3,000 evacuees waited several hours under the hot sun for their pre-loaded debit cards, issued by the provincial government as some financial relief in the wake of the devastating floods last week.
Among them was Courtney Charles, who drove from her sister’s house in Airdrie and was not impressed that five hours later she was still waiting.
“It’s just another kick in the face for High River residents,” she said. “The first two hours the line was moving good, then it stopped.”
Inside the processing site, staff and volunteers struggled to keep up with demand.
Technical issues with the debit cards hampered the process, said Brenda Wadey, spokeswoman for Alberta Health Services.
At one point staff were issuing cheques to keep the line flowing. By 4 p.m. staff were processing about 100 people per hour, Wadey said.
“It’s a long time to be waiting,” she said, noting staff, volunteers and medical personnel were supplying people with food, water and chairs as they waited in line.
“On the whole people are really quite patient. There have been some issues but really minimal,” Wadey said.
More staff and computer equipment is expected to arrive before the site reopens Friday at 8 a.m., she added.
The debit cards, which are being offered first to High River residents, allow for immediate cash withdrawals at AT Ms, debit machines and Internet purchases. Individual adult evacuees are eligible to receive $1,250 and children under 18 $500.
Provincial officials set up two sites for distribution, one in Vulcan and the other in Nanton, which had been the site of an emergency shelter for evacuees from High River.
Impatience among High River residents continued to fester Thursday.
Geraldine Toomey said she’s concerned about the increasing tensions in Nanton, fearing they will reach a boiling point.
“Something is going to blow. People are losing it,” she said. “I could see a riot.”
Frustrated residents planned to breach a police checkpoint northwest of town as the evacuation order stretched into its eighth day.
RCMP officers gathered in numbers at a checkpoint blockade, preventing 50 residents from walking to the town, as dozens more police cars — lights flashing — lined the streets in High River on standby.
They laid down a spike belt to keep anyone from attempting to drive past the blockade on the road into the community, sending the crowd of residents into a rage.
“What’s next? Tear gas?” one resident shouted.
The roughly 30 officers were ordered to fall back about an hour into the standoff to defuse the situation and listen to residents’ concerns.
“We don’t want our town to turn into another New Orleans,” resident Jeff Langford said. “The longer that the water stays in our houses the worse it’s going to be. We’ll either be bulldozing them or burning them down because we’ve got an incompetent government.”
Langford blasted High River Mayor Emile Blokland over comments the beleaguered mayor made Wednesday that residents will only be allowed to return after businesses, such as hardware and drug stores, are opened.
“It was ridiculous,” Langford said. “I think he’s a puppet on a string.
“This is at the highest tension,” he said. “What’s going to happen next is that people are just going to be walking across these fields, and I don’t care if they put hundreds of thousands of police officers there, they’re not going to stop them from getting in.”
Blokland said he hopes residents respect the law.
“RCMP are at those checkpoints and they’re doing an incredibly important job providing security for the town as a whole,” he said in an interview.
In a news release Thursday, RCMP said three people caught trying to sneak into the town had been arrested and briefly detained before being removed from the area. No charges have been laid. RCMP revealed Thursday that officers have confiscated a “substantial amount” of firearms from homes in the evacuated town of High River.
“We just want to make sure that all of those things are in a spot that we control, simply because of what they are,” said Sgt. Brian Topham.
“People have a significant amount of money invested in firearms … so we put them in a place that we control and that they’re safe.”
Dan Laville, spokesman for the Solicitor General, said RCMP officers are afforded more powers by municipalities when a local state of emergency is declared, including entering homes to check on people’s welfare and ensuring there are no safety issues.
“If they do see things like unsecured weapons, they’re obligated to secure (them) for the time being,” he said, adding that it’s a safety issue.
The guns will be returned to owners after residents are allowed back in town and they provide proof of ownership, Topham said. He would not say how many had been taken.
The confiscations didn’t sit well with residents.
“I find that absolutely incredible that they have the right to go into a person’s belongings out of their home,” resident Brenda Lackey said. “When people find out about this there’s going to be untold hell to pay.”
Officers relied on forced entry to get into numerous houses in the early stages of the flood because of an “urgent need,” Topham said.
They are no longer resorting to forced entry, and homes they had entered will be secured, he added.
Blokland expressed sympathy for residents, but again urged patience as he expects to announce a re-entry plan on Friday.