EDMONTON – A severe thunderstorm tore through a children’s camp in northeast Edmonton Tuesday evening, sending 21 people to hospital – three of them with serious injuries. All have since been released.
Two of the injured were staff members of the Our Lady Queen of Peace Ranch, the rest were children. By Wednesday all had been released from hospital including one child, who was originally in critical condition after being hit in the head by a pole. The boy received eight stitches to his head.
Strong winds knocked over more than half of the 30 teepees, which staff began evacuating around 9 p.m. But it only took 10 minutes for the storm to hit, and it hit hard.
“We were told to grab our stuff and run to the hall over there. And so we ran and grabbed our stuff,” recalls George Suian Johnson. “We were in the teepee and there was another guy and we got him out. Then we weren’t even 10 steps away and it fell over…Everyone was running. It was pretty crazy.”
The camp was split up into two sections, based on age.
“The little kids last night they were, well, really panicky,” says one of the older campers, Regis Stephen. “And even some of my friends I had down the hall, they had siblings down there, they were panicking, they were crying – which I understand. If I had a sibling down there, I’d be the same way.”
EMS units were not only dispatched from Edmonton, but also from St. Albert, Fort Saskatchewan, as well as Strathcona County, says Alex Campbell with AHS. ETS buses were used to transport patients, as well.
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The camp’s president and CEO Mike Doherty stands by the decision of his staff to evacuate the teepees when they did.
“There was a warning around 12 noon right across Alberta. So what do you do? Sit and wait in the hall till it ends? No, we get thunderstorms all the time in Alberta,” Doherty said. “It could’ve been a lot worse.”
He adds that over the next few days, the situation will be reassessed to see if any changes could be made in the future.
The summer camp is for less fortunate children. It was supposed to go until Friday, but all 200 children have been sent home. Camp officials are looking at the possibility of bringing them back some time later this summer.
With files from Erin Chalmers, Global News
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