'It's just human nature': Former Manitoban helps B.C. residents impacted by floods

Camp Squeah near Hope, B.C. took in dozens of people who were impacted by the floods in the area. (Source: Camp Squeah/Facebook)

WINNIPEG -

A former Manitoban living in British Columbia is one of many people helping those who have been impacted by the flooding in that province.

Dustin Siemens is the summer camp director at Camp Squeah and he is originally from Altona, Man. before he moved to B.C. in 2003.

The camp is about 15 minutes away from Hope, B.C., which was hit badly by flooding.

"Sunday, with all the heavy rain that we had, it cut off a bunch of roads with mudslides in our area. It kind of made our area around Hope here an island," said Siemens.

He said four highways run through the area and that meant many people were trapped with nowhere to go.

Therefore, Camp Squeah started opening its doors to those who needed help.

"We have beds and accommodations for people," he said. "(We) had a couple of phone calls from people who happened to know us … and said, 'Hey, can we crash?' and then the next day there were so many more people, we started connecting with others in our community."

Siemens said at one point they had around 90 people staying at the camp.

Staff at Camp Squeah making food for people who stayed at the camp after being impacted by flooding in B.C. (Source: Dustin Siemens)

He said usually, the camp isn't very busy at this time of year, but they are able to handle that number of people.

"We just had to get some of the resources in place and then we could do it."

Siemens added that they first pulled out some food in the freezers so they could feed people in the first couple of days and then through local connections, they were able to bring in more supplies.

"People were able to donate both bedding and groceries and things like that to keep us going and now there are supplies coming from outside our area as well," he said.

Donated bedding to help people staying at Camp Squeah in B.C. (Source: Dustin Siemens)

"When we had trucks roll in with bedding on the back and groceries and food, that just got me excited to know that there's a broader community helping each other out."

He said most of the families have now been able to leave and only a few are still waiting for roads to open so they can head home.

Siemens said he was glad that the camp could help those when they needed it most.

"It's just human nature, I think, to help out when people are in need … but also as a camp, we are called to provide a place of refuge and we believe about our place that it is meant to be a safe place for people. So when there's people in need it is very obvious for us in our mission to be available for people."