(Photos courtesy: Naomi Tensen)
Ferociousness was the word used by the Director of Madge Lake Bible Camp to describe this week’s storm that went through the camp, with nickel to toonie-sized hail, large wind gusts and plenty of rain.
“It was about quarter-to-five on Monday, and we were just having a brief staff meeting – just going over the plan for the rest of the day – but all of a sudden it just hit,” said Ryan Weisner.
“We’re in the building praying and just making sure everyone was safe and watching trees falling down all around us, hoping that nothing was going to fall on us and fortunately nothing did.”
He said no one was hurt but the horses at their stable were quite spooked by the storm, however, they got the horses inside a shed before the hail came down.
While some trees hit a few of their buildings, Weisner said there were not being used at the time because a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. All of the Bible Camp’s activities have been postponed until next week.
Weisner pointed out others were also dealing with the aftermath, not just the camp.
“The buildings that got hit in the Kamsack Subdivision – these are people’s cottages, and just the devastation there is just overwhelming,” he said.
When it comes to the cleanup efforts, the camp director said they’ve been fortunate several people have come over in the last few days to provide assistance.
“We’ve had in the last three days had between 20 and 25, maybe even 30 different volunteers come out that have heard what has happened to the camp,” Weisner said. “We were clearing trails and its just wall after wall after wall of trees but fortunately the right people come along with the right equipment and people have lending us dump trailers and different things like that to help us get on our way.”
Madge Lake Bible Camp is located about 20 kilometres northeast of Kamsack.