Fort William First Nation has declared a state of emergency.
Chief Georjann Morrisseau on Monday said between 100 and 170 people, about 60 families, are set be evacuated from the community following a heavy rainfall that dropped up to 60 millimetres of precipitation on the Thunder Bay area over the past 24 hours.
“It’s very bad,” Morrisseau said. “Many of our roads have been washed out. There is a road closure at the entrance to Chippewa Park. We’re hoping that we don’t have to see any more road closures that limit access to the First Nation and from the First Nation.
“It’s pretty bad, and with the rain that going to come and downpour, we don’t know how much worse it’s going to get. So we’re all on high alert right now.”
FWFN official are working with Emergency Management Ontario to co-ordinate their next steps in the disaster process.
“We’re developing and working on an emergency response plan to get out to the houses, assess the damage and infrastructure to roads. There’s been quite a washout in many areas of the community, resulting in an evacuation,” Morrisseau said, reached by phone.
“We’re dealing with it one step at a time.”
FWFN public works officials are already going through the community, assessing damage to both homes and infrastructure.
“We’re making sure we have emergency people on call. We’re sending notices out to the membership of the First Nation as well, so they know they have access to emergency contacts.”
Where the evacuees will go remains up in the air, Morrisseau added.
“We’re currently working out the details as to where,” she said. “We have put hotel rooms on alert to be a help for some of our community members. As part of our emergency response plan, we’re trying to find out who requires evacuation.
“Naturally our major concern is the Stage 1 evacuees, who are the elderly, the sick, the medically challenged people who need access to medical services.”
A couple of families, living in the Carp River area, were immediately evacuated because of the flooding.
“We figure it’s somewhere between 40 to 100 homes that may be evacuated as a result of the flood.”
City of Thunder Bay officials are holding an emergency operations meeting to discuss the situation. A city spokeswoman said an update will be forthcoming soon.
