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With the initial disaster now passed, Alberta evacuee centers are now witnessing the dark side of Alberta’s famed post-disaster generosity; whole truckloads of donated goods that are soiled, unnecessary and getting in the way.

“NO USED DONATIONS CAN BE ACCEPTED,” reads the all-caps warning in a Thursday statement from Edmonton Emergency Relief Services. Similar pleas were posted on the doors of evacuation centres throughout Alberta, with Facebook pages similarly abounding with accounts of supply truckloads being turned away.

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“Do not forcibly donate food to shelters in Edmonton,” wrote one volunteer. “We cannot use it and it WILL go to waste.

Misguided donations are a feature of any major catastrophe, with veteran emergency coordinators often referring to the phenomenon as the “second disaster.”

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In previous disasters “people have donated chandeliers, dog costumes, stiletto-heeled sandals and prom gowns,” said Juanita Rilling, director of the Washington, D.C.-based USAID Center for International Disaster Information, writing in an email to the National Post.