REGINA BEACH, Sask. – It’s been more than three months since a natural gas explosion rocked Regina Beach, and now the landscape is changing once again.
The Oldershaws’ family cottage had just been renovated a year ago, when it was leveled in the blast.
For Kathy Oldershaw, it was an escape. “We’d have Christmas there, and we’d all be there in the summer. It was a place we could go with all the family,” she said.
On December 3, 2014, that changed dramatically, leaving the family to sift through the rubble.
“It was kind of hard looking at the pictures, putting all my stuff, my life in a dumpster,” Oldershaw said.
The family saved very little – an old teapot, a cup, a quilt wall-hanging and a solitary Christmas decoration from what used to be a prized collection.
Now, as cleanup continues, the Oldershaws are drawing up plans for a new house they hope to build on the same site.
“We want it back. We want to be spending summers out there as soon as possible,” Oldershaw said.
That’s exactly the attitude Mayor Cameron Hart wants to see.
“It’s good to see progress. Things getting done, things cleaned up,” he said.
But he recognizes the timeline won’t be the same for everyone. He knows there’s plenty of paperwork that needs to be filled out and passed around.
“They’ll eventually get cleaned up through the summer. It’s going to take a year or more,” he said.
That’s the case for the Oldershaws’ neighbours, the Fords.
Their property was partially shielded by the blast by a large sail boat, yet their windows still blew out, their roof flexed, and their walls are structurally unsound.
“We’ve had a contractor look at it. It seems as though replacement would be wiser than fixing,” Linda Ford said.
She feels lucky she can still live in her home, and is also pleased to see changes happening next door.
“It’s nice to see that progress is visible. It isn’t just all paper-pushing,” Ford said.
There’s also a transformation taking place at the town post office, which was heavily damaged in the explosion.
It has been demolished, and is currently operating out of a temporary location on Centre Street.
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