Maritime Red Cross personnel off to Quebec to help flood victims

The Canadian Red Cross is sending personnel from the Maritimes to support its operations in Quebec where thousands of people continue to be affected by flooding.

The first three deployments will take place Sunday.

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P.E.I. provincial director Laura Johnson-Montigny of Charlottetown, volunteer Denis Cormier of Dieppe, N.B., and volunteer Louise Carson of Saint John will fly to Montreal and be deployed to one of more than 20 communities where the Red Cross has set up operations.

Red Cross teams have been busy since early May responding to extensive flooding in Quebec, Ontario and B.C., managing shelters, registering thousands of evacuees and providing other support.

Johnson-Montigny says she will be working as a site manager, which will include co-ordinating with the emergency response team.

Learning experience

She said she is "excited and grateful" for the opportunity to help, but also sees it as a learning experience.

"Certainly knowing that the skills I gain in these kinds of deployments are something that I can bring back to P.E.I. and share with my emergency response team which then, in turn, makes us more prepared to respond on P.E.I."

Cormier, meanwhile, will be training people in shelter management, while Carson will be working in human resources.

Raising funds

More deployments from the Atlantic region are anticipated in coming days, in part to relieve Quebec volunteers who have been working in some cases around-the-clock for nearly two weeks.

The Canadian Red Cross is also raising funds to help those most severely impacted by flooding. Donations are accepted online at redcross.ca, toll-free at 1-800-418-1111 or in person during normal business hours at any Red Cross office.

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