THUNDER BAY - Evacuees from a flood-prone northern community are expected to return on Friday, while 78 evacuees from Wawa were forced to travel to Thunder Bay first before making the trip home.
On Monday, 78 evacuees from Kashechewan First Nation arrived in Thunder Bay from Wawa by bus because hotel accommodations were no longer available.
“The hotel availability in Wawa expired, so Thunder Bay committed to receive the evacuees from Wawa for the interim until they go back to Kashechewan hopefully sometime later this week,” said Thunder Bay Fire Rescue deputy fire chief, Greg Hankkio.
The new evacuees brings the total number of Kashechewan residents in Thunder Bay to 148, with close to 50 arriving earlier in April.
“Things have been going really well,” Hankkio said. “It’s been a cooperative effort and everyone has been working hard to make their stay as comfortable as possible and I’m sure they are all looking forward to going back home as soon as they can.”
The evacuees may only have to wait less than a week to return home, as the risk of flooding on the Albany River near Kashechewan appears to have decreased.
“To the best of our knowledge, the threat of flooding is over and the chief of the community has asked to have his people repatriated, so they are making arrangements right now to begin the flights and start bringing the people back to their community,” Hankkio said.
There was the hope that the 78 evacuees in Wawa could have returned directly home, but weather hampered flights. All evacuees are expected to return by Friday of Saturday.
“We’ve had some evacuations that have gone significantly longer,” Hankkio said. “In this particular case, this was a precautionary evacuation so to the best of our knowledge there was no flooding in the community.”
