Flood evacuations resume in northern Ontario

Linda Nguyen,  Canwest News Service Published: Sunday, April 27, 2008

   Evacuations continued Sunday in three flooded northern Ontario native communities after poor weather conditions stalled recent efforts.

Ten helicopters from the Department of National Defence and Natural Resources Canada returned to Fort Albany, Kashechewan and Attawapiskat First Nations reserves Sunday to airlift residents out of the remote communities located on the edge of James Bay.

"Operations have begun again," said Barry Radford, a spokesman for the Ministry of Natural Resources. "We're dealing with overcast and a bit of snow but we've been moving people by helicopter out."

As many as 250 people have been taken out of Fort Albany, as the Albany River continues to swell to almost record-levels in recent days due to ice buildup.

"Everybody has known that this year had the potential of being really bad year so we've been planning this for quite some time," he said. "Ice and water is building up beyond what happened in 2006, which were the worst levels to date."

Radford said the 980-kilometre long river has overflowed its banks due to a large backlog of ice and a fast flow of water.

The river, which empties into James Bay, has only one dike which leaves officials with little control over the flooding.

"It's a straight without water controls on it, there is one dike, a diversion dike and water is coming out of it," Radford said. "It's not sufficient enough to hold the amount of ice that goes through so the ice is breaking up and the jams are occurring, building up more and more."_

Evacuations first began in the remote northern Ontario communities on Friday when 250 people were taken out of nearby Kashechewan.

On Saturday, 47 people were flown out before worsening weather conditions forced planes and helicopters to withdraw.

Radford said a total of 2,000 people will be removed from their homes in these three aboriginal reserves as flooding risks grow greater due to rising ice and water levels in both Albany River and James Bay.

All the evacuations have been completed for Fort Albany. Officials now will be concentrated on Kashechewan and the further northern community of Attawapiskat.

He added that officials anticipate evacuations to be completed by Monday if weather conditions co-operate.

"So much is dependent on the weather, not just in Fort Albany and Kashechewan, but where we're taking them, too," he said. "We're just grabbing them when we can."

Meanwhile in Attawapiskat, officials have begun evacuating high-needs residents.

"We're moving the most vulnerable people out of there since the ice break-up has started," he said. "That means seniors and people who are hospitalized."

Officials are taking a wait-and-see approach to determine whether the general population in Attawapiskat also need to be removed.

Evacuees are being transferred by plane or train to other Ontario communities like Kapuskasing, Cochrane, Hearst, Thunder Bay, Perth and Sault Ste. Marie.

Where residents are taken is dependent on the capabilities of the communities to handle them, Radford said.

"We're trying to keep people together as much as we can but when a community is full, we have to move people to other places," he said. "Where they go is dependent on what their needs are, like who has the hospital capacity or nursing home capacity (for residents)."

It's expected that the evacuations will be in effect from four to six weeks.

Kashechewan was ravaged by flood waters in 2006 when surging waters forced 750 people from the reserve.

Further complicating the evacuations in Kashechewan and nearby Fort Albany is that many local residents are taking part in the annual goose hunt and they will be difficult to reach as they hunt in the low-lying land.

These remote communities are located about 1,000 kilometres northwest of Ottawa.