MONCTON, NB — Something strange is going on in the neighborhood. There’s heavy rain and it don’t look good. There are strong winds, trees are down and lights are out. When disaster strikes, who you gonna call? Have no fear, the disaster relief tractor-trailer’s here!

“Chainsaws, generators, pumps, wheelbarrows, shovels, rakes, electric tools, portable tools — you name it, we have it,” Stephen Joudry, a volunteer with Christian relief group Samaritan’s Purse told the CBC.

Some of those items sure would come in handy in case of a natural disaster and Samaritan’s Purse is stationing one of its disaster relief units in Moncton to respond to disasters throughout Atlantic Canada.

It’s one of three tractor-trailers in Canada that are equipped with tools and safety gear to help people respond to emergencies such as floods or hurricanes. There’s also a relief truck stationed in Alberta and another in Ontario.

Joudry and his wife Mae are from Moncton and volunteered with Samaritan’s Purse during the floods in Perth-Andover in 2012 and in High River, AB, last year. Now they will co-ordinate disaster relief in Atlantic Canada for the group, which is headed by Franklin Graham, the son of evangelist Billy Graham, the CBC reports. 

“This is a fully stocked mobile tool box, if you wish, with an office and a capacity to drive into a community or a city and provide instant relief to people who have been affected by a natural disaster,” said Moncton Fire Chief Eric Arsenault, who also heads the local Emergency Measures Organization.

Samaritan’s Purse is a Calgary-based non-profit that responds to humanitarian crises with physical aid. In Canada, their Disaster Response Units, several tractor trailers outfitted with generators, pumps, hand tools, and safety gear, equip staff and volunteers to help Canadians rebuild and get back into their homes.

Hauling Aid to Canadians

• 2013: Flood relief in southern Alberta. Three Disaster Relief Units and many volunteers answered the call to help Alberta communities affected by major floods. Record river levels and melting snow from the Rocky Mountains combined with heavy rainfall to produce major floods that damaged the city of Calgary and other southern Alberta communities.

• 2013: Flood Relief in Ontario. Heavy rains and melting ice and snow created a devastating combination in central Ontario. Several communities in the Muskoka region declared states of emergency. Samaritan’s Purse helped homeowners clean out and prepare their homes for rebuild.

• 2012: Flood Relief in New Brunswick. The St. John River overflowed its banks in March, forcing over one third of Perth-Andover’s 1,700 residents to evacuate. A Samaritan’s Purse Disaster Relief Unit and over 500 volunteers cleaned out houses and brought comfort to many grateful homeowners.

• 2012: Flood Relief in Quebec. Prolonged flooding damaged hundreds of homes in the Richelieu River valley in May and June. A Samaritan’s Purse Disaster Relief Unit and dozens of local volunteers brought comfort and assistance to many devastated residents.

• 2011: Slave Lake Fires. Forest fires swept through a small northern Alberta city in May and Samaritan’s Purse staff and volunteers took a Disaster Relief Units to help and the devastated community.

• 2010: Flooding in New Brunswick. Residents of Zeeland were affected by flooding and Samaritan’s Purse sent a Disaster Response Unit to assist local volunteers with the clean-up.

• 2010: Newfoundland hurricane response. After Hurricane Igor struck Newfoundland, a Disaster Relief Unit was sent to Bonavista, Newfoundland to help with the clean-up.

2010: Southern Alberta Flooding. In June 2010, southern Alberta was flooded and a Disaster Relief Unit was sent to Medicine Hat to help residents clean-up.

• 2010: Ontario Tornado. Samaritan’s Purse was on the ground coordinating volunteer clean-up efforts following a powerful tornado on June 6, 2010 in Leamington, ON.

• 2009: Chilliwack Flood Relief. When freezing temperatures, close-to-record snowfall, and enormous amounts of rain combined to cause massive flooding in January, 2009, in British Columbia’s Fraser Valley, Samaritan’s Purse mobilized a Disaster Relief Unit. Together with local volunteers, they helped more than 65 families who were forced out of their badly damaged homes.

• 2008: New Brunswick Flooding. The province of New Brunswick was flooded and again a Disaster Relief Unit was sent to help clean-up and recovery.

• 2007: British Columbia Flooding. A Disaster Relief Units was sent after spring floods damaged homes in the Terrace, BC. Around 130 volunteers provided approximately 3,000 hours of work cleaning out homes.

• 2006: United States Flooding: A Disaster Relief Unit was dispatched to equip over 200 Canadian and American volunteers who helped clean up 27 communities in New York and Pennsylvania after summer floods, winds, and rains devastated neighborhoods and destroyed businesses.

• 2005: United States Hurricanes. A Disaster Relief Units mobilized and equipped more than 200 Canadian volunteers who made emergency repairs and helped with massive clean-up efforts for 566 homes in Gulfport, Mississippi after Hurricane Katrina devastated the area.

See more at: www.samaritanspurse.ca.