If there’s been one silver lining to Tammi Kennedy’s week, it’s the kindness she’s found in strangers.
The Merritt, B.C., woman left her home when the city-wide evacuation order came down last Monday and was sent to Kelowna to find refuge through Emergency Support Services.
She wasn’t anticipating the damage wrought by the storm, so her emergency bag wasn’t exactly ideal. She had a couple of pairs of capri pants, one pair of shoes, and no toiletries. None of it was quite right for the weather or an extended stay and when she got the vouchers for incidentals, clothes and food, she was pretty ready for it all.
“I was at the cash register at Superstore and I spoke to the woman there and said, ‘I don’t know, I may have gone over my limit, the voucher is only for $100,” she said.
She was right, she’d gone over her limit, but before she could put anything away a woman two spots behind her who had heard she was a Merritt evacuee said she’d get the rest. Then the woman closest right behind her told the cashier to return the voucher, she was going to pay for it all.
“I started to cry and she gave me a big hug. The lady at the till said, ‘Isn’t it great to be Canadian?’” she remembered.
The next day she was at the Dollar Store and she also told a woman in the store she was a Merritt evacuee.
“She’s a pastor in Kelowna, and she took my hand and prayed with me. I am not spiritual or religious, and the feeling I got …. It was joy,” she said.
It was a lovely encounter that got lovelier when she went to the cashier and the pastor unexpectedly covered her purchases.
“I get it, as a social worker people want to help, but when you’re on the other side, it’s sometimes hard to take and I am always the helper not the receiver,” she said.
“What I can’t believe, though, is the generosity and kindness of the people of Kelowna.”
She shared the experience through Facebook and the outpouring of more warmth and support was remarkable.
It’s likely only a matter of days until she goes home, but the impression left of this city will likely last a lifetime.
An estimated 7,000 residents were evacuated from the city, some due to flooding, and others because the city’s drinking and wastewater systems were rendered inoperable by the flood.
The Merritt water treatment plant went back online Monday and a staged plan to get families home has taken place.
Residents of “green” coded homes will eventually be granted access to their properties, while residents of “yellow” coded homes will get instructions on next steps.
“Those owners of ‘red’ properties will, unfortunately, likely remain evacuated for an extended period of time. When you come home, Merritt will not look how it did when you left,” she said.
On Saturday, however, the city’s mayor said it’s unlikely what they come back to will be like what they left.
“The south of the city looks different from how you last saw it. Streets have been damaged. The Middlesborough Bridge has collapsed. The river has been re-routed. And unfortunately, homes and vehicles have been destroyed,” Mayor Linda Brown said in a Saturday evening video update.
It’s not totally unexpected for Kennedy who is still shocked by the sight of water rising in the river behind her house.
It pushed a big modular home past her house and there was a bridge that led to her home that washed away.
The good news is her home is likely largely unharmed and some semblance of normalcy is hopefully in the offing following an otherwise strange couple of years.
— with files from Simon Little
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