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Leamington lifts state of emergency

LEAMINGTON, Ont. - Leamington lifted its state of emergency Tuesday, more than two weeks after a devastating tornado struck the south section of the community.

Mayor John Adams said cleanup will continue over the next several weeks but that the community is now in recovery mode.

Adams declared the state of emergency on June 6 after an F1 tornado and violent winds struck, levelling trees in Seacliff Park, causing an estimated $2 million damage to the marina and wrecking greenhouses and private homes.

Adams said following a meeting Tuesday with area emergency agencies that "all the access roads are open and even the private roads." He said today was the last day for the Samaritan's Purse relief agency, an Alberta-based group which sent four workers to co-ordinate volunteer efforts.

Samaritan's Purse arrived in Leamington two days after the tornado sent trees through roofs and crushed homes.

"We're not equipped to handle the volunteers," said Anne Miskovsky, the town's emergency information officer.

"We were getting all of these wonderful calls from people who wanted to help," she said.

It was the first time Samaritan's Purse had been sent to offer relief in Ontario.

Brent Davis, who was sent to Leamington from Calgary, said his job wasn't difficult because of the overwhelming response from people who wanted to volunteer.

"All we did was point people with chainsaws to people with trees," Davis said.

Over two weeks the organization had more than 180 local volunteers come out to help 73 families.

The volunteers put in 1,200 hours of work, moving trees and branches, boarding up windows and putting tarps on broken roofs.

There was a hotline for residents to call if they wanted to ask volunteers for help.

"This was probably one of the strongest volunteer efforts that we've ever experienced in terms of volunteer response from within the community," Davis said.

Now that the initial cleanup has happened, locals are forced to deal with reality of the damage in Leamington.

"It's never going to be the same, residents who were impacted they're going to reorient themselves to a new normal," Davis said of the massive amount of downed trees and property damage.

But he said there's still plenty of help.

"Really the care doesn't end just because we're leaving," he said.

Adams said property owners "are finding out now that it's not just the shingles that are off the house but it's actually rafters that have broken and trusses that are broken so I think there is a lot of construction work that has to be done and there's also a lot of downed trees in backyards and that's something that insurance does not cover."

Leamington has received $800,000 in emergency funding from the province and has applied for financial assistance under the Ontario Disaster Relief Assistance Program.

Chris Jacobs, managing director for Keepsake Plants Ltd. took Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty through the operation's devastated greenhouses during his tour through Leamington.

Jacobs said the greenhouses that once housed thousands of flowers "won't be able to be repaired by any means" and the design process is already underway for a replacement facility.

Keepsake Plants is still waiting to hear if it will receive financial assistance from any level of government.

Jacobs credits the extra assistance from municipal and utility workers for the improved condition of the town.

"If left to the residents on their own without that extra assistance of the town workers it would have taken months to have that area cleaned up," Jacobs said.

"It looks very different but it looks significantly better than it did that Sunday morning. They all did a fantastic job."

Adams said tree replanting will be a top priority once the cleanup is finished.

Local churches and the Mennonite Disaster Services will still be offering help.

In the two weeks after the tornado the Evangelical Association of Canada brought chaplains to the area to offer counselling and trained local churches on how to talk to those dealing with property loss.

"A lot of people were suffering a loss so they wanted to talk," Miskovsky said.

Despite the religious background on the organizations, all the services were open to everyone, she said.

Residential property owners who require cleanup assistance are asked to contact Mennonite Disaster Services at 519-326-2727.

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