The Devils Lake community has opened their hearts and their homes to those evacuated from Grand Forks due to flooding.
There were more volunteers than flood victims Saturday night at UND-Lake Region, which was named an official Red Cross shelter early Sunday Morning.
Ahna Fixen, whose husband Randy is the housing director at UND-Lake Region, worked as a volunteer throughout the weekend. She said as soon as the first evacuations were announced Saturday morning, donations from the community started pouring in faster than volunteers could sort them out.
“It’s unreal,” she said, remarking on the amount of items donated Saturday. “We started with one table in the corner, and it’s grown into this…” She indicated an entire room full of tables stacked with blankets, clothing, diapers, cleaning products and other supplies. On Sunday, tables lined the hallways with even more donations.
As donations continue to come in, the volunteer register has grown enormously since Saturday. According to Dean Hermanson, shelter manager at UND-Lake Region, there were 450 volunteers in the Red Cross data base this morning.
That’s about one volunteer for every two registered flood victims.
“As of early this morning, there were 932 people checked in through the shelter,” said Hermanson. He said 95 evacuees were placed in sleeping rooms at UND-Lake Region, and there was still room for more at the college.
In addition, Hermanson said more and more people are heading out to Camp Grafton which has the capacity to house 2,000 evacuees.
Ramsey County Emergency Manager Tim Heisler estimated that there were between 125 and 150 evacuees at Camp Grafton. The official Red Cross tally this morning was at 100. Camp Grafton is the secondary site for the evacuation. The Lakewood Bible Camp also opened its facilities to evacuees.
Others have been placed in private homes, and according to recent reports, more than 900 Devils Lake homes have volunteered to take in flood victims. No numbers were available Monday morning on how many families have actually been placed in Devils Lake Homes, but a shelter volunteer did note that many evacuees were taking that operation first.
Area hotels are also filling up with evacuees. Greg Otis, manager at the Comfort Inn, said from Thursday night through Sunday night, he estimates that about half the rooms at the Comfort Inn were rented to evacuees.
Some are staying a night or two and moving on to stay with relatives or moving to shelters at UND-Lake Region or Camp Grafton. Those staying on are primarily retirees.
“Week by week it’ll probably change. We’ve had a wide range of people here, from young families to older couples without children,” said Otis.
The local Salvation Army is also intensifying their efforts to provide relief for flood victims. Even Huestis, chairman of the Salvation Army Service Extension Unit in Devils Lake, said the local unit is addressing needs and are gearing up for the long-term.
“Even when the waters go down, it will be a significant amount of time before evacuees will be able to return to their homes. We anticipate these people will be here in Devils Lake for quite a while,” he said.
Huestis added that at this point, the Salvation Army is mainly providing services to evacuees staying with private families in Devils Lake. They are addressing needs such as transportation, clothing, personal hygiene items, and other personal items.
Since the Salvation Army is planning on a long-term flood relief effort, they are seeking a facility to operate from. “We are in desperate need of a building that can be provided for a month or two to centralize our supplies and coordinate our efforts,” said Huestis.
Anyone with such a building available, or flood evacuees needing assistance from the Salvation Army may call Huestis at Ramsey National Bank, 662-4024; or call 662-4484.