The township of Tweed, Ont., is still recovering from the aftermath of a tornado that devastated the area last summer.
Owner of a zen forest meditation retreat, Thich Tong Tri, says countless trees on his land were uprooted by the storm and have yet to be replanted. He was at his retreat when the tornado came through but was unharmed.
Read more:
‘Lightly felt’ earthquake reported in southern Ontario originating near Buffalo, N.Y.
Read next:
China admits 2nd surveillance balloon flying over Latin America is theirs
“I was here and I just pray for everybody be okay, not get hurt, so I not fear,” he told Global News.
Tri has been working to repair the damages, relying on volunteers to help him.
“It’s very difficult, we don’t have too many volunteers but we’re still looking for more volunteers,” he said.
According to the township’s mayor, Don Degenova, Tri is not alone.
Tweed as a whole has not received much help from the federal government, Degenova said.
“We were really caught off guard when we were told that we weren’t getting any funding because they indicated we didn’t meet the threshold,” he said.
Read more:
Record lows shatter temperature records in Ontario during cold snap
Read next:
Real-life Doogie Howser: Boy, 9, becomes one of the youngest-ever high school graduates
Degenova believes storms like last summer’s will become more common, and the federal and provincial governments need a better plan for helping affected areas.
“We have to learn with climate change, we have to learn to live with the impact, we know that we’re gonna have major storms like this but we need to know that someone has our backs,” he said.
In the meantime, Tri is doing his part to help the area he has made his home recover, one seed at a time.