Prairie Public NewsRoom
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Resource Center established in Watford City following tornado

People in Watford City have the opportunity to connect with organizations and resources to help in the recovery process after the tornado Tuesday morning.

Gretchen Hjelmstad is the regional communications officer for the Dakotas region of the American Red Cross. She says the community has come together to support each other in incredible ways - both in helping with cleanup, sorting through items in the emergency center and even businesses have stepped up to donate items and food. She says the American Red Cross has now opened a MARC, or Multi-Agency Resource Center, to continue helping the community with resources they need. She says it will be open from 9am to 7pm at the Watford City Civic Center.

"Right now the Red Cross has coordinated this resource center, but we've got Lutheran Social Services, Mackenzie County Social Services, the County Veterans Service Office, Salvation Army, Lutheran Disaster Response, USDA Rural Housing, Department of Human Services, Community Action. So this is really just a one stop shop for people who are affected to come through, talk with whatever kind of organization will fit their needs, and really just make this recovery process as easy as possible."

The tornado tore through an RV park and caused significant damage. It displaced hundreds of people, injured dozens and killed one infant child. Hjelmstad says the MARC will be open as long as it's needed to help Watford City get back to where it needs to be.