On the morning of July 5th, two days after my day with Queen Elizabeth II, the Free Press photo editor called to say I was being sent north for the day. Peguis First Nation had been hit hard by flooding and winds that past weekend. Over 200 residents were waiting to be evacuated. I was about an hour behind the reporter, who would connect me with some locals he’d interviewed, and then leave me to capture the visual story.

I was somewhat relieved when a council member told me that the homes flooded by sewage were closed off. There was also a part of me that wanted to shoot it. Instead, my cameras focused on the washed out roads, flooded homes and the relief centre where the evacuation was being coordinated and where I would soon find shelter during a tornado warning. 

(Above) My guide, Bill “Nature Boy” Cochrane Jr. skips rocks across what was once a driveway leading to the brother of Albert Sutherland (right) on Peguis First Nation.

(Above) This was about the average size of the leeches scurrying toward our feet in even the smallest pool of standing water. I was grateful for the rubber boots I borrowed from the photo dept lockup. Bill on the other hand, didn’t seem to mind them…

(Above) Those clouds weren’t just barrelling toward the Relief Centre. Parts of them were spinning, though we were spared a touchdown. For the camera nerds, no post-processing was done to those clouds.

(Above) One of the young Peguis residents waiting at the Relief Centre for buses to take her family to a Winnipeg shelter.

The next morning: