Fort McMurray evacuee takes each day "one step at a time"

Cox called the municipality asking about a possible evacuation and was reassured this was only a concern in select neighbourhoods in town. Within 20 minutes, she told to leave the downtown, immediately. Cox ran to her home in the neighbourhood of Thickwood to grab whatever she could.

“Within probably an hour the whole city was under evacuation, and you either go north up to site or south to Edmonton or Lac la Biche area. There’s just the one road in and out,” she said.

Cox and a friend headed north in what became evacuees’ only option. On a drive she said should take an hour, they drove for seven. Since pulling over meant risking being forced out of line, she drove straight through, sustaining herself on a few crackers she had in the car.

Each work site they passed was full, so Cox and her friend kept driving north. Upon finally reaching a site with space, they had to wait hours for a bed.

“I wasn’t necessarily scared,” she said. “I’ve never experienced that much adrenaline in my life and it was just like ‘go,go,go get yourself out and make sure everyone else is safe.’ It didn’t actually hit me until a couple days after when the adrenaline was finally wearing out that I was like ‘oh my gosh I went through some crazy things.’”

After staying a night on site, Cox met up with more friends and made the trip south through Fort McMurray to Edmonton. During the drive – which normally takes about four hours but took them nine – she said people along the highway were giving out water and food.

“It’s overwhelming, all the support that we’ve had. It really shows how great humanity can be in times of craziness and how people come together in all this,” she said.

Cox arrived in North Battleford Monday night. She said she hadn’t really had the time to sit down and process what had happened until then.

“It feels like it was just yesterday, so it’s going to take a while to process everything that we’ve been through,” she said.

“Sometimes I feel worried and stressed about what’s next because we’re not getting a lot of answers as to when we can go home and with work, and money and all that kind of stuff. It’s really important to just take one day at a time and one moment, one step at a time and not think too far in advance.”

Cox said in two weeks they’d have a clearer picture of when she would be able to return home. She thinks her neighbourhood is not as damaged as others.

Although overwhelmed by the response and kindness of people, Cox noted they’ll be living with the disaster and its repercussions for years.

“We’re only a week into it and there’s been such a great response, but also we have to be reminded that it’s going to take years for us to get back into the regular days and back to normal,” she said.

Sarah.rae@jpbg.ca

@sarahjeanrae

by Sarah Rae

Fort McMurray evacuee takes each day "one step at a time"

What's Trending