When the storm hit last fall, Port aux Basques senior was left alone
At age 16, Norm Hinks gave his girlfriend, Thelma Leamon, a pocket knife and a lucky rabbit’s paw as a gift.
Like most high school sweethearts, they broke up soon after.
Hinks and Leamon started loving each other again after 35 years. Thelma still had the pocket knife and rabbit’s paw when they moved in together in Port aux Basques, N.L.
During the next 23 years, they made up for lost time and were rarely apart.
Now, Hinks is staying temporarily in a one-bedroom cottage for seniors, where he peels carrots and turnips for the rabbit stew he’s making.
Hinks said, “We don’t get sick or colds because we eat pretty well.” He then paused and said, “I say we, but it’s just me now.”
The living room has a green camouflage couch, and a reality show about hunting is on a TV that is turned down.
Hinks says that he is a “hunting fanatic” and that Leamon was the best hunting partner he could have asked for.
She didn’t like to take selfies. But on their last trip to hunt moose, Leamon was very excited to shoot one while sitting in their all-terrain vehicle.
Hinks said, “So I took the picture, and she said, ‘Let me look at it.'” “”Oh, we have to smile,” she said. Take one more.'”
Hinks’s walls only have that picture, which was taken on a Wednesday.
Three days later, on Saturday, Sept. 24, 2022, Leamon, who was 73 years old, died when post-tropical storm Fiona ripped through the southwest coast of Newfoundland. The storm caused a lot of damage, including the loss of homes, flooding, and roads that were washed away. Port aux Basques declared a state of emergency.
On Sunday, the body of Leamon, who was a grandmother, was found. She was the only person who died in the storm in Newfoundland and Labrador.
“There will never be another like her.
Hinks, who is 73 years old, sighs deeply and shakes his head when he thinks about that day.
He said, “I miss her so much.” “No one will ever be like her again.”
On the day of the storm, the couple was getting ready to leave the house when water from Fiona started to rise and cover parts of their patio.
“I said, ‘Come on.’ I said, “We have to leave here.” “Hinks said.
Then Leamon said, “Move your boat.” She said, “I’ll be fine.”
Hinks left the house to move his boat just as a big wave crashed over the property and carried away sheds and parts of the house. Leamon was still in the house, so he ran back.
“I called her name, but no one answered, and when I stood on the porch and looked down into the basement through the living room, all I saw was gravel and a cement wall.”
What came next was mostly a blur. The next day, Leamon’s body was found.
Hinks has seen stormy seas and strong winds before, just like everyone else in Port aux Basques. But no one was ready for how much damage Fiona would cause.
“If it came at night, you and a lot of other people wouldn’t be talking to me,” he said.
Six months after Fiona, the people of Port aux Basques are still getting back on their feet:
Waiting for money that was promise
In the days after Fiona, when reporters went to Port aux Basques, they asked Hinks and his family to do interviews, but he said no.
Six months later, he doesn’t remember exactly why he agreed to talk, but he says it was time. Maybe it’s because the province promised him money and he’s still waiting for it and isn’t happy with how long it’s taking.
Their house was in Leamon’s name, and she didn’t have a will, so it’s been a long and difficult process to get compensation.
Hinks is upset with government officials, like Premier Andrew Furey, who came to him after the storm and told him he would get money to make up for the damage.
“They patted me on the arm and told me, ‘Don’t worry, we’ll take care of you, you’re in good hands,'” he said.
Hinks says he believed them at the time, but he is starting to lose hope now.
He said, “Since then, I haven’t heard a word from either of them.” “I think about all the promises that were made but were never kept.”
$14 million paid by the governmen
Hinks’ house is one of 102 in the town that are considered total losses.
In a statement, the province’s Department of Justice and Public Safety said, “Significant progress has been made in terms of adjuster and contractor site visits.”
It proved that 34 property owners have been paid almost $14 million.
The government said, “An adjuster and contractor have been to most of the homes thought to be total losses, and many homes that only need repairs have also been looked at.”
“The government has also been paying for temporary housing for anyone who lost their home because of Hurricane Fiona.”
Cash and other things were lost in the storm
Hinks filled out an eight-page list of the things he lost in Fiona, and every day he remembers more things, like a dremel tool.
The grandfather liked to write, take pictures, work with wood, and make guns, just to name a few.
On the list were expensive things like boats, guns, tools, and a CPAP machine that Hinks uses to help him sleep. There was also a desktop computer with a file that had the start of a book that Hinks was writing.
“Thelma was going to fix the punctuation and do everything for me, but we never got to that point.”
Even the name of the book, Adventures With Norm, was chosen by her. For her, he wants to write that book.
Hinks also lost $35,000 in cash, which was his life savings. They had just taken it out of the bank and were on waiting lists at both local banks to get a safety deposit box.
Some of the money washed up on the shore, and when people heard it belonged to Hinks, they picked it up and took it to him. They got back about $3,000.
Then there are things that can’t be replaced, like handwritten diaries from 10 years ago, hunting log books, photos, a pocket knife, and a rabbit’s paw.
Even though nothing can make Hinks feel better about losing Leamon, he says that getting back even a small part of his old life and surroundings would help him a lot.
Even more than his house, he’d miss his shed, a messy place with a wood stove and a lifetime’s worth of tools.
Hinks used to spend most of his time outside, so living in an apartment near the main street isn’t good for his mental or physical health: “For PTSD, I take two different kinds of pills. I take sleeping pills, “he said.
Hinks spends a lot of time in a recliner by the window, and he says that getting money would help him rebuild, both in a physical and a metaphorical sense.
“I don’t want to give up, but it seems like they want me to.”