Michelle Ballentyne found out her daycare lost its roof in the middle of the night.
“On one side of our daycare, the whole top of it’s gone. Rafters, shingles, plywood, the rafters were snapped in half. To be honest, it’s just devastating,” she said in an interview.
That night, she spoke about her worries on a Facebook livestream. Within two hours, she said a team of several local men showed up to repair the rafters and cover the insulation with tarps before rain could damage the inside of the Sandy Bay Student Parent Babysitting Corp.
“We had enough rain that the tarps were feeling this pressure, so if they hadn’t done that, all that water would have gotten into the insulation,” said Ballentyne.
Sandy Bay is a remote village that’s part of the Peter Ballantyne Cree Nation and is about 340 kilometres northeast of Prince Albert.
It was hit by severe weather on the night of July 23, causing damage to multiple buildings.
Residents relied on one another to fix buildings and clear up debris in the community that’s hours away from any major centres by road.
Thanks to the help, Ballentyne said her daycare will be able to open back up in September.
“I was immensely happy because we don’t have any construction companies locally, so it’s basically the people that we rely on.”
Leo Merasty Jr. has been a carpenter for 25 years, since he was a teenager. But the last few days have been some of his busiest as he worked to repair buildings in response to what he said was the worst storm he’s ever seen in Sandy Bay
“There’s a lot of damage all over the place. Quite a few roofs have got blown off, lot of windows that are damaged. The closest place to get materials is about five hours away in Prince Albert.”
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He saw Ballentyne’s post on Facebook and knew he needed to help.
“The building would have gotten ruined and a lot of water damage and those kids are going to need it when they go back to school,” Merasty said.
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He and a few other men worked for hours a day over the next four days to fix it before the rain could get in.
“I was worried about rain because if that loose insulation gets wet, it’s going to be pretty bad for the ceiling because it’s going to leak right in and probably collapse the ceiling,” Merasty said.
The daycare is financially supported by the provincial government.
Rachel Bear, a recreation worker at the band office for the Peter Ballantyne Cree Nation, said the storm came out of nowhere and everyone has been playing a role to help with the recovery.
“It was big. The gust of wind was strong and fast and the rain came fast,” Bear said.
Multiple homes lost their roofs and there was no power for 15 hours, as the band office and residents co-ordinated food and generators, she said.
“Right now, we’re just trying to figure out how to provide for our community,” said Bear.
For Ballentyne, helping others is something she has always done, and will continue to do.
She said even before the storm, there was a lack of housing and addictions support, and she holds small fundraisers on Facebook for community members when they need help.
“A lot of the community members support that because one time or another, it’s either their brother, their sister, their cousin, their aunt, their uncle, themselves, or their parents that need help, so they want the help, they give the help.”
