Government officials visit evacuees at Expo Centre

A number of government officials visited wildfire evacuees at Edmonton's Expo Centre on Sunday.

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith, Opposition Leader Rachel Notley and Edmonton Mayor Amarjeet Sohi all visited the evacuation centre.

More than 1,400 Drayton Valley residents are registered at the Expo Centre after a mandatory evacuation order late Thursday night.

Thirty-seven people slept at the evacuation centre Saturday night; the rest stayed in hotels with family, the City of Edmonton said.

Both Smith and Notley thanked the City of Edmonton for getting the evacuation centre set up before Drayton Valley residents arrived early Friday morning.

Evacuees are anxious but optimistic, both politicians added.

"We had a chance to speak to a few evacuees, and as you can imagine, they're worried…they're worried about their homes," Notley told CTV News Edmonton outside the Expo Centre.

"People are feeling a little weary, nervous of when they're going to get back home," Smith added.

"I'm hearing that there's some rain in Drayton Valley. With any luck, that will bring the temperatures down and people will be able to get back home soon."

Drayton Valley resident Patricia Saxer told CTV News Edmonton her experience evacuating was scary.

Saxer works at a hotel and she was responsible for getting guests out of town.

"I was shaking. Everybody was polite, everybody was cooperative and we got everybody out safe," she said.

Evacuee Heather Beierbach told CTV News she's starting to calm down after a couple of anxious days.

Someone showed her a current picture of Drayton Valley and she says she saw her house still standing.

"If we get a little rain and get those roads cleared, we might be able to go home soon. That's what I'm hoping," Beierbach said.

"We're really pulling together."

With files from CTV News Edmonton's Marek Tkach