An aerial view of the neighborhoods devastated in the wildfire that forced the evacuation of the city is seen during Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s helicopter tour in Fort McMurray, Alberta, Canada May 13, 2016.
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Shawn McCullough wrote and posted “Fort McMurray Strong” to YouTube.
“We talked a lot about flood mitigation around Calgary”, he said.
Officials asked him if they should move it, but the prime minister said no, the owner should be the one who comes back to find it.
Wood Buffalo fire Chief Darby Allen presented Trudeau with a Fort McMurray fire jacket and said his visit would help encourage emergency workers.
According to DBRS, the initial estimate of 2,400+ structures suggests that approximately 10% of buildings in Fort McMurray have been affected. “Then you go a little further and you see devastation”, including “streets, blocks, houses, gone”.
“But they don’t yet understand that that wasn’t a fluke of wind or rain or luck that happened”.
He says people know there was a fire and they know that large portions of the city were saved. “The generosity of Canadians is exceptional, as it always is, and the strength and resilience of Albertans was exceptional, as it always was”.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says the government is extending employment insurance benefits to three western economic regions that were left out when changes were first made. Blake said it was critical for Trudeau to tour the burned neighbourhoods.
The Emergency Operations Centre helped evacuees as they landed, getting them to their cabs, rides with friends/family, or even getting them medical attention.
Evacuees are collecting this week Alberta debit cards loaded with C$1250 (NZ$1426) per adult and C$500 (NZ$570) per dependent, as well as Canadian Red Cross aid of C$600 (NZ$685) for each adult and C$300 (NZ$342) for each child.
Trudeau said there will be “significant federal money “invested in Fort McMurray for rebuilding, but did not yet have a figure”.
Mr Trudeau’s visit follows criticism for the way he’s handled the country’s costliest natural disaster, with many arguing that as prime minister he should have come here sooner. As the raging wildfire closed in on Fort McMurray, Jody Gallagher and Jamie Mills knew it was time to evacuate.
Fort McMurray evacuees eager for a look at how their neighbourhoods fared during a recent forset fire have a new tool – Google.
“I was not able to get here until now, so I was following all of the updates and watching the images on TV and seeing the scale of this” he said.
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Alberta officials said they will have a plan within two weeks for getting residents back into their homes.
