ROSENORT, Man. – Like some kind of wretched garage sale, the contents of Paul and Luella Friesen’s home are spread out across their yard.
But they haven’t set out their well-used, outdated and unwanted items for bargain hunters to root through.
Everything is on the lawn. Major appliances join stacks of kids’ puzzles. Books lie open on a table. Mattresses are stacked six high.
Just about all of it is ruined.
Like other families in the Red River Valley, the Friesens are starting to clean up after the great flood.
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About a month ago, wind whipped waves from the Red and Morris rivers over their sandbag dike, filling their finished basement and leaving a water mark at knee level on the main floor.
Throw out junk
“So far, we’re not getting it together,” said Paul. “Just tearing it apart.”
The Friesens and their two teenaged sons have been staying with Paul’s parents inside the ring-diked town of Rosenort.
They were looking forward to adding a trailer to the items in the yard. Morris rural municipality made an arrangement with a trailer manufacturer to help families like the Friesens who expect to be out of their homes at least until fall.
Paul didn’t think his home would flood. Just in case, the family moved most of their possessions out of the basement.
But while they were evacuated, water rose much higher, soaking the spreads still on the beds, long dresses still hanging in closets, the custom-built furniture in Friesen’s home office.
The water buckled the hardwood floors, soaked through wall paneling, and wicked up the insulation.
The reek of the Red River hangs in the air, even though the water is gone, the basement is gutted and some of the walls are bare down to the studs.
It was hard to know where to start, Friesen said.
“If we were doing it ourselves, we would have been overwhelmed.”
The Friesens say they’re fortunate to have a crew sent out each day by the Mennonite Disaster Service.
The volunteers are people like Ted Andrews, who was covered in fine dust after ripping apart a living room wall.
“When someone asked, ‘Do you want to go to Manitoba?’ I didn’t even hesitate,” he said.
Andrews retired from Eaton’s in Guelph, Ont. in January. He had never flown until he got on the plane for Winnipeg.
He joined fellow First Baptist Church members Rory Smyth, who took a week off work, and Doris Andrews, (no relation), unemployed, who prayed she could find the finances for the trip.
They are staying with Rosenort families for a week and spend their days at the Friesens, ripping, junking, shoveling, moving.
“I just think of it as a great opportunity to put faith into action,” said Ted. “When I first started taking stuff out, I almost cried myself.
“To see someone this young in life lose treasures, mementos, yet they’re not sitting in the corner crying.”
