The waters have receded in Perth-Andover, N.B. but the damage claims are piling up. Widespread flooding hit the area late last week when an unusual springtime heat wave unleashed a torrent of ice, which then jammed and forced the St. John River to spill its banks.

Premier David Alward says the area is now in recovery mode, after roughly 500 residents were evacuated from their homes on Friday.

The mandatory evacuation order has been lifted and residents are returning to the area to assess the damage but Alward says the province may have to consider relocating some residents.

The Department of Public Safety says about 200 homes and businesses are damaged, including 14 on the nearby Tobique First Nation.

Area resident Kyle Sutthery has returned to his home, which was among the many devastated by the weekend's flood waters.

"I need a panel before I can get in my home, I need a furnace. Everything in my basement level is ruined," he describes of the damage.

Like many, Sutthery is in the process of pumping out his basement – the first step in what he says will be a long, slow recovery. Still, he says others have been hit even harder.

"It's terrible. The total town this time is gone," he says. "Every business, everything…I don't know what to say."

While the waters of the St. John River have returned to normal, the village remains in a state of emergency.

Every business on the main street has been affected by the flooding, including the one run by Reid Moorcraft's wife.

"Well, the floor will all have to come up for sure," he says. "All this carpet is going to have to come up and the basement still got water in it."

Schools remains closed - some indefinitely because they suffered water damage – and the hospital is closed too. Patients and services have been moved elsewhere.

While many people are returning to their flood-ravaged homes, others won't be so lucky.

"To be quite frank, it's going to be a few days or perhaps weeks for some of the people because some homes have received significant damage, oil contamination in some buildings, so it's going to be a while for us to get everyone back to normal," says area resident Dan Dionne.

Alward says it's too early to determine whether residents will need to be moved out of the flood plain, but it is a possibility.

"What we do know…is that we need to ensure that we mitigate the level of risk so that we can ensure people are safe, and the community is safe, and people are able to continue with their lives," Alward told CTV News Monday. "So right now, we're focused on getting inspections done and evaluating the damages to both individual homes, businesses and the public infrastructure.

Then we need to start looking to the future."

Lifelong residents have seen high water and even flooding in Perth-Andover before, but many say they have never seen the likes of what they've just witnessed.

"We didn't have time to rescue things…it happened so fast," says business owner Patti McHatten. "We've had high water in past years, but we didn't...we've never had any water in our parking lot even, so we didn't really realize that this could happen."

A new emergency supply centre in Moncton was put into use for the first time Monday as firefighters and staff with the Canadian Red Cross loaded emergency supplies into trucks to be delivered to the flood victims in Perth-Andover.

Last fall, an old fire hall in Moncton was donated by the city for use as a storage facility for emergency relief kits, and this week it sprung into action.

"We have about 500 kits in Moncton. We are going to send 150 up to Perth-Andover," says Marc Belliveau, a spokesman with the Canadian Red Cross. "In the kits you can find cleaner, mops, gloves, garbage bags. Everything they really need to clean up their homes before they can go back in."

Officials say having moved the facility from Truro to Moncton will save several hours, allowing the response to happen much quicker.

People wishing to help those affected by the flood can make a donation to the Canadian Red Cross at 1-800-418-1111 or online.

With files from CTV Atlantic's Andy Campbell