Without power for days, more than 3,300 storm evacuees take shelter in Winnipeg

Evacuees from storm-affected Manitoba communities including First Nations still recovering from the2011 floods are continuing to arrive in the Winnipeg areato stay at hotels, with friends and family or at Red Cross shelters.

About 21,000 Manitobans remain without power as Manitoba Hydro attempts to repair or replace lines, poles and towers damaged in an October storm that blanketed much of the province wet and heavy snow.

The Canadian Red Cross says more than 3,300 evacuees from nofewer than 10 Manitoba communitieshave registered with the aid agency, said Red Cross spokesperson Jason Small. About 300 spent Sunday night at a shelter at RBC Convention Centre.

"The majority of people are staying with friends or family or at other accommodations," Small said.

For some, it's a familiar experience. In 2011, when Little Saskatchewan First Nation was flooded out,Nora Shorting spent weeks as an evacuee in Ashern, Pine Falls and just outside Gimli.

Now, as her community is without power,she's staying with family in Selkirk.

"It's unbelievable. I didn't think we'd begoing through this again," Shorting said on Monday outside the Victoria Inn inWinnipeg. "I don't like being out here. We're used to the country. We miss our homes."

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Some evacuees have complained about access to food.

"I've only eaten three meals over the past three days," said Daniel Shorting, also from Little Saskatchewan First Nation. "We have children here that are barely getting fed themselves. There's a problem right now, with the kids. They have special needs because they're younger. They can't eat fries and gravy for breakfast."

The Interlake Tribal Council is also unhappy some elders have been housed at the Red Cross shelter at RBC Convention Centre.

"That's not acceptable the Red Cross placed them there. They should be staying in hotels where they are more comfortable, not sleeping on cots," said tribal council chair Cornell McLean, who's also the chief of Lake Manitoba First Nation.

Small said this is why the Red Cross encourages evacuees to stay with friends or family, if possible.

"We completely understand:A shelterisnot a comfortable place, butit's what is available in this case," he said.

SomeLake Manitoba First Nationevacuees also complained Mondayabout getting shuffled from one hotel to another.

Margaret Missyabitsaid she waited for eight hours at a Holiday Inn near Winnipeg's airport before she was driven downtown to the convention centre and forced to walk to the downtown Radisson Hotel.

"We're being removed from here. We don't even know where they're taking us. They don't even know where they're taking us," she said.

Hotel transfers are the responsibility of the Interlake Regional Tribal Council, Small said.

Missyabit also said she did not think it was appropriate for Conservative leade Andrew Scheer to campaign in Manitoba while tens of thousands are without power.

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The Tory leader said he has made a donation to Red Cross storm-relief efforts and encouraged others to do the same.

The Red Cross is preparing a second shelter, but Small would not confirm its location. Volunteers pointed to the Duckworth Centre at the University of Winnipeg.