Red Cross Still Shelters New Brunswick Flood Victims

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Three weeks after the flood waters began to recede the Canadian Red Cross is still providing accommodation to dozens of families who were displaced by floods.


The flood forced hundreds of people across the province to leave their homes along the 700-kilometre length of the St. John River.

At the time, the Red Cross set up emergency shelters across the province to assist those who had been displaced. Ten families moved into shelters just last Friday.

"They're open and there's still people in there and we continue to work with them to make sure that they're safe and comfortable and have the basic needs of life," said Richard Nelson, the flood relief co-ordinator for the Red Cross.


The agency is ready to help those whose houses have been condemned, or who can't live in them because of health concerns.

Jacqueline Hoekman, her fiancé and their six children moved into a Red Cross shelter in Fredericton Friday when they were ordered them to leave their downtown home. The inspectors had discovered that sewage backup was tainting the house's air quality.

"[It] felt like a cold really, like sore throat, runny nose, and a couple of my kids are coughing," Hoekman said.

"I didn't really realize it was from the, it's called microbacteria, I think is what they said. That's what I think is causing our illnesses."

The home may be disinfected this week and the family will be able to return to their home.

A temporary shelter for 134 evacuees at five hotels in the Fredericton area and a residence at the University of New Brunswick, although most people were relocated to a residence building at the St. Thomas University campus last week.

In addition, 14 people are being housed by the organization in the Edmundston area, and two in Saint John.