Meet the volunteers in Constance Bay

The City of Ottawa says volunteer numbers dipped after the weekend as people headed back to work, but there were many hands at the community centre in Constance Bay on Monday.

Pierre Poirier, manager of security and emergency management, said the city has had a total of 9,000 registered volunteers. About 3,300 people pitched in on Sunday and about 600 people did on Monday, including school children.

• Can't sandbag? There are other ways to help
• 2019 floods: How to volunteer

Here's what some volunteers in Constance Bay had to say. Their responses have been edited for length and clarity.

Nick Saloman, Carp

I've got some family friends that live out on Baillie [Avenue] and they're pretty much under water.

We're mostly doing runs [with sandbags]; my friend's got a big trailer, Arbuckle Construction. He's been going around doing the loads that we can because there's only a couple of loaders that can bring it around for people. Even the half-tontrucks, they don't fit too much.

The water keeps coming, every time we think we're done. We've got to keep building the wall higher and higher. I think it's up three feet even since the weekend.

Aditya Malhotra, Kanata

I took a half day off, came here around 2, 3 o'clock. I've been volunteering and I've met a couple of people who are going to build sandwalls around their house. It's pretty intense, getting more rain coming.

I'm from Kanata. We've been hearing about Dunrobin, last year's tornado, more and more flood. I just wanted to help out, whatever I can, a few hours here and there.

It gets intense, but when you see people around you they never stop putting the sandbags there. So you also don't stop. You keep going, going and going until someone reminds you to take a break.

Dean Ricardo, Perth

We're out here today in Constance Bay feeding those that are supporting those that are affected by the floods along the Ottawa River.

[The Rapid Relief Team] is all about the community and compassion and support. We've got the military here, there's a lot of other volunteers unselfishly giving their time. We're grateful we've been given the opportunity to be called up.

They're really, really appreciative of the support we've been able to provide, even being able to put their hands over the grill and warm up. It's a cold job, it's a dirty job that they're doing.

Martin Lee, Westboro

My day started off at about 8 o'clock this morning. I was over at the Royal Canadian Legion site. We've been filling sandbags for the residents to pick up. It's a lot of hard work.

With a team of four City of Ottawa employees and myself, we've emptied a five-tontruck into sandbags and we're working on a second one now.

It's a little bit of a strain, but we're giving back to the community. My wife's family is from the area and I felt the need we need to give back.