Floods at fernie forge

Submitted by Fernie Forge on Mon, June 24, 2013

I was at the Hosmer Fire Hall filling sandbags before 8:00am on Friday June 21 2013, not knowing I’d be needing them myself before noon. Before I left to check my own home there were 130 people, many from Fernie, who had seen a plea on Facebook and showed up to help. Food donated from Fernie businesses and individuals arrived at Hosmer Community Hall. When I did get home I was shocked at how much water was flowing through our property that hadn’t been there three and a half hours earlier. I phoned and requested sandbags. Trucks and people were there within minutes. Global News came and interviewed my husband David. Fernie Search and Rescue arrived at our door with an evacuation order. I asked for help to evacuate my alpacas and a trailer was there within half an hour. The water was chest deep and the alpacas wouldn’t swim across, so rather than leave them, we asked if we could have a dispensation to stay and herd them onto higher ground behind our land. Our son Henry turned up and canoed out to cut the back fence with his Dad. He returned for me and I took photos of the floods from the canoe. I was awed at the Elk River suddenly flowing through our property, but even more amazed at the sheer volume of help we received from complete strangers, just when we needed it most. Thank you to everyone who helped us, including Hosmer Volunteer Fire Department, the guy who took an aerial photo and sent it to our son so we could see the bigger picture, emergency response people and the remarkable friends and neighbours who make us proud and very grateful to be part of this community.

Sandra Barrett