Displaced Port aux Basques residents face uncertain future after Fiona
Global News
The province is also assessing exactly how many homes were damaged in storm Fiona, as it works on a relief fund to help residents either rebuild or relocate.
Denise Anderson shouted a list of items into her phone over the sound of pouring rain, along with instructions on how to find them: clean socks, a new pack of underwear, prized pieces of jewelry and important documents.
Her husband was inside their house that faces the waterfront of Port aux Basques, N.L., days after post-tropical storm Fiona carried destruction through their small southwestern Newfoundland community of about 4,000 people, demolishing homes and claiming the life of a 73-year-old woman.
“I don’t want to go in,” Anderson said Monday from the road overlooking her property. It was strewn with debris — broken pieces of wood, tires, plastic coolers, an upside-down ATV and other vehicles pushed up against the side of the house.
Anderson was concerned about the safety of the stairs inside the house, but the couple needed clean clothes and other essentials to get by while they settle into what might be a long wait for their home to be deemed structurally sound.
It was the second time returning to their home since the storm hit, supervised by emergency response workers on the quick run for essentials.
“As you can see, I’m going to be quite a while before I’m allowed back in,” Anderson said, her voice breaking with emotion as she surveyed the scene.
Anderson had just moved back to the town she grew up in after more than a decade living in Ontario, but now she and her husband are among the dozens of residents who have been displaced after the storm. Walls and roofs were ripped off some houses, others were swept away into the ocean.
Across the street from Anderson’s home, closer to the angry waves, a neighbour’s red house stands crumpled into itself, an oven spilling from its walls. Similar scenes of destruction were visible throughout the town as emergency responders escorted people into their homes to retrieve items.