A second natural disaster: N.L. woman says Fort McMurray fires 'a million times worse'

Connie Howell is no stranger to natural disasters, but says surviving wildfires fuelled by high winds and bone-dry forests in Fort McMurray this week was as scary as it gets.

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Howell is originally from Badger, a town of less than 800 in central Newfoundland that made national headlines in February 2003 after the three rivers that border the community overflowed their banks.

Everything we worked so hard for all gone.- Connie Howell

It was followed by a sudden drop in temperature, locking the community in the grip of thick ice.

Howell remembers the damage to her home and the drawn out evacuation, but said it doesn't compare to the relentless ferocity and destruction in Fort McMurray this week, where 1,600 homes and other structures have been burned, and nearly 90,000 citizens were forced to flee.

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"I thought that was bad," she said of the Badger flood. "This is a million times worse."

Feeling homeless

Howell was left homeless temporarily during the Badger flood.

This time, the apartment in Abasand she shared with her daughter, grandson and daughter's husband was leveled by fire.

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"We all know what it's like to be homeless, and it's hard," Howell said.

"A lot of people have lost everything."

Like many who fled Fort McMurray this week, Howell's escape was a dangerous one.

After piling a few personal items into a suitcase, including her cherished Pittsburgh Penguins hockey jersey and some other keepsakes, she escaped south.

"It was heartbreaking," she said. "All I could see was flames and smoke."

A jersey too precious to leave behind

It took her two days to reach Edmonton, a distance of just over 400 kilometres, anduncertainty began to replace fear.

I thought that was bad.This is a million times worse.- Connie Howell

She's not sure what will become of her job driving a fuel truck at an oilsands site, or how she and her familywill replace everything they've lost.

"Everything we worked so hard for all gone," she said.

But amid all the uncertainty, she still sees some humour in her predicament.

The Mario Lemieux hockey jerseythe one her cousin gave her for Christmas28 years agowas the last thing she took from her house, and hopes the Penguins will reward her devotion to the team with a good run in this year's playoffs.