FREDERICTON -- A New Brunswick official of the Canadian Red Cross says having a stockpile of emergency supplies made a difference in the response to flooding in Perth-Andover in March.
Bill Lawlor, the director of disaster management, says Red Cross volunteers were on scene within a few hours with vehicles loaded with cots, blankets, comfort kits and flood cleanup kits.
More than 500 residents had to be evacuated from low-lying areas when ice jams forced the St. John and Tobique rivers to spill their banks on March 23.
Lawlor says while people in the area had experienced some flooding in the past, most were shocked at the record levels that the water reached.
He says fundraising efforts raised more than $230,000 in cash and other goods, and just three per cent of that went to administrative costs.
Lawlor says only one person remains in a hotel, but they will be returning home soon.
