New Call for Volunteers for Cities of Hunter, Page

FARGO — UPDATE: Cass County officials are putting out the call again Wednesday morning for volunteers to head to the cities of Hunter and Page, N.D. to help with clean up after the storms over the weekend.

Volunteers are no longer needed in the city of Erie, said Cass County Communications Director Caitlin Solum.

People are encouraged to contact the following city leaders before arriving to know what equipment and resources each community needs.

• City of Hunter: Sean Richardson – (701) 367-2128 or Brad Bateman – (701) 430-3596
• City of Page: Kyle Erickson – (701) 388-6590

KVRR also has a crew on scene with North Dakota Governor Kelly Armstrong as he sees firsthand the storm damage in the city of Enderlin and its surrounding areas before heading to Page and Hunter on his disaster recovery tour.

HUNTER, N.D. (KVRR) — At first glance, it’s hard to believe, but what you see on day three since the storms hit the region is an improvement from what they were dealing with here before. Loo –Dozens, if not hundreds,  of old-growth trees up and down each corner, up and down the main street of the town, with more fallen timber and wreckage to deal with each day.

Residents say it was terrifying the night of the storm, they lost power, couldn’t get messages out to tell people they were alive, and then when they opened the door, the streets were absolutely covered in trees and there was no way to get out of town. the irony in all this is that we’re seeing all these John Deer tractors and equipment clearing away the debris, yet the John Deere building itself is totally flattened.

The leader of their recovery efforts didn’t even have time to talk to us, since his phone was blowing up the entire time.

“It’s like out of a movie. I can’t believe this happened,” said Sean Richardson, who is leading the cleanup effort in Hunter.

“We’re kind of keeping the kids out of it. They’re going to be a little traumatized. Kind of speechless. (It) feels like a dream,” said Noah King, a third-generation homeowner in Hunter.

So the tears are finally coming, all these days later, but so are the hugs and so are the volunteers. Fifty and counting. Organizations and businesses and individuals from all over the region.

And you’d think they’d be good and sick of trees by now, but Noah, that third-generation homeowner we talked to, thinks the trees might actually have saved lives. He stashed the horses in the barn ahead of the storm and you can see where this roof was partly ripped off, but the trees fell in such a way to protect them.

And, like he said, he’s got his life and his neighbors. Some from intown, some from miles away. At first strangers, now neighbors he didn’t even know he had.