Flood Journal

Garden Valley Collegiate
Winkler, Manitoba

By Cheryl B. (Grade 12)

Tuesday April 22, 1997

This is so exciting - that everyone is being called to volunteer for sandbagging. My family might call to offer for some people to stay at our house. I hope someone calls. I think it will be fun.

I can't believe how many people are needed for sand bagging! There was just an announcement that an emergency organization needs about 47 more people! That's a whole other bus load! I think that if they still need people tomorrow I'll go.

Sunday April 27, 1997

I headed to pick up my sponsor for the town clean-up. They live a few miles south of Winkler and I was driving down the gravel road for the first time since I got my drivers license (I was by myself). I came to this sign that said ROAD CLOSED, but it wasn't all the way across the road and I didn't know how else I could get to their house, so I drove around it. I'm truckin' down the road in my Honda Civic and I see this pile of gravel and another road block. I stopped and got out of my car. I walked over to the road block and peered into a gap where the road had been washed away. All that was left was the culvert and I could hear water running. I was by myself with a car on a gravel road at night. It was scary.

Thursday May 1, 1997

We phoned the arena to tell them our house was available if a family of flood victims needed a place to stay but, so far no one has called us.

There's a girl at school from Rosenort because of the flood. Her name is JoLene. She goes around and talks to everybody. If it was me, I'd be so scared to go to a different school. I don't know how she does it.

I wonder if some of my friends have had to evacuate. One person I know lives in Niverville and yesterday they said on the news something about Niverville. Then I thought, but she wouldn't have to really evacuate would she? I mean, for real? I have a hard time believing it, because the flood isn't affecting me.

I wonder what the places look like that I helped sandbag? I wish I could see the places because I see what's going on in the news and I see pictures of what looks like an ocean, and they say it's LeTellier but then I think, "But where I was sandbagging couldn't be under all that water, could it?" It's unbelievable.

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