High River residents continue to clean up

Flood-damaged appliances line the streets in the Town of High River on Monday, Volunteers looking to help out continue to pour into the community every day.

Homes are still abandoned, streets are still a complete mess, and lives have been changed forever in High River, but the efforts to clean up the flood-stricken community are still going strong.

Hundreds of volunteers continue to pour into the Town of High River every day as debris continues to be hauled out of recently flooded homes.

Deb Clement says she’s been overwhelmed by the support. “The amount of volunteer help is tremendous. People coming from Calgary and various places and they’re just walking up the street, saying ‘you want help?’ If we do, we say so; if not, we send them to our neighbours.”

Coordinators say they’ve started to clean every home that needs work and reinforcements come in waves throughout the day.

Several volunteers say they just want to do their part.

“They need it and I’ve got the day off, so I want to help out,” Lylas Moore says.

There is no short supply of bodies, but the town is still looking for tools.

Anyone with good boots, gloves, shovels – anything that can be put to good use in the hands of volunteers willing to clean up the town are needed.

On Monday, a dozen members of the Slave Lake Fire Department arrived in High River to relieve the 20 members of the Town of High River Fire Department.

The Slave Lake crews will allow local firefighters to take a much needed break.

The northern crew is returning the favour after firefighters from Strathcona County headed north to help during the fires in Slave Lake and some of those same Strathcona team members are leading the High River flooding emergency response operation.