The city is preparing to host up to 150 evacuees from flooded-out Kashechewan First Nation.
Thunder Bay Mayor Keith Hobbs said municipal officials spent most of Saturday afternoon co-ordinating the efforts, after calling an emergency meeting of the city’s Operation Control committee to handle the situation.
“There are several communities that are taking in evacuees from Kashechewan and all up along the Albany River area,” Hobbs said Sunday morning.
“It’s something that happens quite frequently. These people are going to be displaced, quite similar to the forest fires we took in when Sandy Lake residents experienced them. We have to reach out. It’s a humanitarian effort and we have to help out those in need.”'
Deputy Fire Chief Greg Hankkio, who helped oversee the arrival of Sunday's first wave of airlifted residents at Thunder Bay International Airport Sunday morning, called it a co-ordinated ground effort between several agencies.
It's been bit of a scramble, he added, but city officials have been keeping an eye on the flood situation along the Albany River and readying itself for the possibility of housing displaced out-of-towners.
"It did transpire yesterday afternoon, but we've done a lot of preliminary work leading up to this point with our partner agencies," Hankkio said.
"We've been prepared for quite some time, in the event we were asked to formally host evacuees. So putting this all together wasn't all that difficult for us. We've done it in the past, so we've got a good group of people to make it happen."
Last summer Thunder Bay acted as a transportation hub when forest fires threatened Sandy Lake First Nation. The city also hosted more than 100 evacuees at that time.
"The city's emergency operations control group is a well-oiled machine. We've hosted several evacuations of this nature in the past. We're set up and equipped to handle things like this and we're glad to welcome our neighbours," said Valerie Marasco, public information officer for the EOCG.
The main concern is making sure evacuees make an easy adjustment to Thunder Bay, given short notice about the evacuation that tore them from their homes.
"Right now we're just concerned about getting them here, getting them safely out of their community and getting them settled in to what will be their home for the next five to seven days."
Kashechewan First Nation earlier this week declared a state of emergency and is flying out its most vulnerable resdients first. Other communities taking in flood victims include Cornwall, Kapuskasing, Sudbury and Timiskiming Shores.
Hobbs made it possible to support the effort on Saturday when he signed an emergency declaration for the City of Thunder Bay.
The costs of the evacuation will be covered by the federal government's Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada department.
Flood victims will be housed at the Victoria Inn, Hobbs said, stating they’re hoping to keep everyone at one place to make the transition less traumatic on the evacuees.
Victims will be met by a co-ordinating team that includes represenatives of the city, Fire Rescue, Thunder bay Police Service, Nishnawbe-Aski Police Service, Thunder Bay Superior North EMS, Tbaytel, the Canadian Red Cross, the Salvation Army and the District of Thunder Bay Social Services Administration Board.
Flights are expected to continue throughout the day Sunday.
