(Members of the Kashechewan First Nation in Ontario wait at the airport prior to boarding. Jason Leroux, APTN)
Annette Francis
APTN National News
KASHECHEWAN — The sky over the Kashechewan First Nation was busy with planes arriving and then departing as the as the evacuation of elderly, young and sick from the community was in full swing Friday.
As a precaution, officials decided to move nearly 1,500 members of Kashechewan hundreds of kilometres to the west to escape the rising water of the Albany river.
The first flights out of the community began at 9:00 Friday morning.
Families with small babies, toddlers and elders filled the waiting area in the airport much of the day.
At points during the day, it was standing room only as residents waited their turn.
While the airport was busy, some people refused to leave.
“Here we go again,” said Tommy Kooses. Kooses said he is tired of the same threat every spring. This year, he said he’s staying put. “I’m forty years old, I’ve seen this since I was five.”
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The problem at the moment is an ice dam 160 kilometres to the north.
Given Kashechewan’s poor record of surviving spring floods, officials started talking about leaving weeks ago.
Another issue is a government funded dike that was supposed to protect the community from rising waters.
But there are serious engineering issues with the dike and it will not be able to hold back the Albany.
It’s not clear when residents will return.
An ominous sign of what may be coming for this year’s evacuees are about 400 members of Kashechewan still living in Kapuskasing.
Their homes are still in the flood plane and have not been repaired since the 2014 flood. “The government’s paying a lot of evacuation costs, said
“The government’s paying a lot of evacuation costs,” said Kooses. “It’s costing $20 million every year and it doesn’t need to be like that. We asked for relocation in 2005.”
The second stage of evacuations begins Saturday.
500 members will head to Cornwall, and another host community is yet to be determined.
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