Tornado-stricken Long Plain evacuees moving to hotels in Portage la Prairie

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This article was published 26/07/2016 (2822 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Most tornado evacuees from Long Plain First Nation have returned home but the outlook for some is much bleaker.

More than 130 will live in Portage la Prairie hotels until their homes are repaired or replaced, which for some could takes months.

At an update Wednesday, Long Plain First Nation Chief Dennis Meeches said damage from a vicious storm one week ago left 585 temporary evacuees.

The July 20 storm became an F-1 tornado with winds exceeding 135 km/h and 57 homes were heavily or completely destroyed. There was severe damage to another 150, and damage assessments are still in the works for roads and infrastructure, including the local school and health centre.

With estimates on houses almost complete, the focus is getting families back to their own homes.

“That will be determined by our inspectors when their homes are safe to go back into… It could be a month for sure, it could be five to six months for homes that have to be completely rebuilt,” Meeches said.

The Red Cross called the press conference at one of two Winnipeg hotels where the last evacuees were packing up to move to Portage.

“Once we know the damage and who’s going to be out for the long term, the Red Cross will work with the leadership and the individuals and they will determine where’s the best place for them,” said Shawn Feely, vice-president for the Canadian Red Cross in Manitoba and Nunavut.

“It’s too early to say when they will be back in their community.

“Most individuals, rightly so, want to stay close to their community. A lot of people have jobs in Long Plain or Portage,” Feely said.

The agency will stay on the job until the last person goes home, he said.

“It was a blessing no one was hurt or injured in that storm,” Meeches said.

“Evacuees, their first question is ‘When can I go home’… I think people are starting to accept what has happened and get their strength back. I just met with the evacuees and they had a lot of questions but our people are really resilient. They’ve been through many challenges over the years.”

The community will go ahead with its annual Treaty Days Thursday, which will serve as the first gathering for the First Nation of 2,200 people, located about 100 kilometres west of Winnipeg, since the storm.

The annual powwow, one of Manitoba’s premier summer powwows, has been postponed until Labour Day at least.

Property damage estimates were sure to be in the millions once they’re tallied up, Meeches said. In the meantime, the community is footing the bill on cleanup efforts, to be reimbursed by Ottawa this fall.

The path of damage from the storm was three to four kilometres wide, Meeches said.

“Some people at Long Plain said there were multiple tornadoes more than three. Some people said there were as many as seven tornadoes dancing in the skies above Long Plain. A lot of people witnessed that. They’re processing that.”

While there were dozens of reports of damage and tens of thousands in Winnipeg and big chunks of southern Manitoba lost power, Long Plain took the worst of the storm. That’s raised questions about emergency preparedness, extreme weather events with climate change and the need for an early warning system.

“People were worried. They were almost expecting something to happen,” the chief said.

The night of the storm, Meeches described storm alerts piling from Environment Canada, a warning from a neighbouring Hutterite colony and a virtual storm of tweets and Facebook posts as the sky turned yellow and the funnel clouds formed.

Evacuations peaked over the weekend; by Wednesday, hydro was largely restored; the treatment plant is expected to be back on line in a day or two and the community remained on a boil-water advisory.

The Red Cross delivered 10,000 litres of water Wednesday, on top of the 24,000 litres that had already been donated or delivered since last week.

“There were so many homes heavily damaged by the tornado,” Meeches said.

“We do have the insurance company out there today and inspectors over the last few days. The cleanup is about 75 to 80 per cent complete. There were hundreds of trees brought down by the storm, lot of roads were affected by that. We really appreciate the support we’ve been receiving from First Nations and other communities and other organizations. That’s gone very well.”

alexandra.paul@freepress.mb.ca