When the roof of a daycare blew off in Sandy Bay in the middle of the night, people in the remote northern Saskatchewan community moved fast.
Michelle Ballentyne said she learned the Sandy Bay Student Parent Babysitting Corp. had lost much of its roof after severe weather hit on the night of July 23.
“On one side of our daycare, the whole top of it’s gone. Rafters, shingles, plywood, the rafters were snapped in half. To be honest, it’s just devastating,” she said in an interview.
Later that night, Ballentyne spoke about her worries on a Facebook livestream. Within two hours, she said several local men arrived to repair the rafters and cover the insulation with tarps before rain could damage the inside of the building.
“We had enough rain that the tarps were feeling this pressure, so if they hadn’t done that, all that water would have gotten into the insulation,” said Ballentyne.
Sandy Bay, part of the Peter Ballantyne Cree Nation, is about 340 kilometres northeast of Prince Albert. The storm damaged multiple buildings, and residents relied on one another to repair structures and clear debris in the community, which is hours away from major centres by road.
Ballentyne said the help means her daycare will be able to reopen in September.
“I was immensely happy because we don’t have any construction companies locally, so it’s basically the people that we rely on.”
Leo Merasty Jr., a carpenter who said he has worked in the trade for 25 years, was among those who stepped in. He said the past few days had been some of his busiest as he worked on storm repairs after what he called the worst storm he has seen in Sandy Bay.
“There’s a lot of damage all over the place. Quite a few roofs have got blown off, lot of windows that are damaged. The closest place to get materials is about five hours away in Prince Albert.”
Merasty said he saw Ballentyne’s Facebook post and decided to help.
“The building would have gotten ruined and a lot of water damage and those kids are going to need it when they go back to school,” Merasty said.
He and a few other men worked for hours each day over the next four days to fix the daycare before rain could get in.
“I was worried about rain because if that loose insulation gets wet, it’s going to be pretty bad for the ceiling because it’s going to leak right in and probably collapse the ceiling,” Merasty said.
The daycare is financially supported by the provincial government.
Rachel Bear, a recreation worker at the band office for the Peter Ballantyne Cree Nation, said the storm hit suddenly and people across the community have been helping with recovery.
“It was big. The gust of wind was strong and fast and the rain came fast,” Bear said.
Bear said multiple homes lost their roofs and the power was out for 15 hours, while the band office and residents co-ordinated food and generators.
“Right now, we’re just trying to figure out how to provide for our community,” said Bear.
Ballentyne said mutual support was already part of daily life in Sandy Bay before the storm, as residents dealt with a lack of housing and addictions support. She said she runs small fundraisers on Facebook for people in the community when they need help.
“A lot of the community members support that because one time or another, it’s either their brother, their sister, their cousin, their aunt, their uncle, themselves, or their parents that need help, so they want the help, they give the help.”
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