Nathan Pitka says it was a difficult journey up to East Trout Lake, Sask., to see the absolute devastation to the townsite.

He had seen the drone footage released by the province last week that showed an overhead view of the flattened cabins, but it didn't fully prepare him for what it was like on the ground.

"What we saw was haunting," Pitka said in an interview on Tuesday.

"We were at a loss of words to what we saw. The entire community had been devastated. There wasn't a single structure standing in the community."

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Pitka's extended family had five cabins at East Trout Lake, about 150 kilometres north of Prince Albert. He had gone up there last month and planned to spend the summer there, like usual. But when

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