Burst pipes, no water — and still staying: Life for Pimicikamak Cree Nation's holdouts

Murray Trout paces through his living room as plumbers scurry down the hallway to attend to yet another burst water pipe in Pimicikamak Cree Nation.

Murky water filled the crawl space beneath his house and spilled into his backyard as Trout came to grips with the reality he wouldn’t have running water for the foreseeable future.

Then there's the worry the flooding will cause mould to fester, but that fear didn't change where he'd spend the night.

"There's nowhere else to stay," he said Wednesday.

"I have to stay as long as there's a roof," he quipped.

While 4,000 people were forced out of Pimicikamak by a four-day power outage and subsequent plumbing issues, Trout's story exemplifies why the return for many evacuees to the northern First Nation may take weeks, and why some aren't going anywhere.

The people who are choosing to stay could be considered holdouts — they're either dealing with water and sewage issues at their own property, or helping someone who is, it seems.

"We have come across some homes that have been lucky, but it's far and few," said Todd McConnell, a plumber brought into to Pimicikamak to help the local tradespeople working 12-hour days or longer.

Pimicikamak has endured a lot: after going days without power while temperatures sunk below -30 C in late December, many homes are facing potentially weeks without running water.

Frigid temperatures when the power was out caused the pipes to freeze, then burst once the newly thawed water pushed against the still-frozen pipe.

That is what Trout faced. After initially leaving the community, he and his wife returned to Pimicikamak last weekend because his wife was returning to her health care job.

It's estimated hundreds of homes are damaged, but a more precise number isn't available because McConnell says there's not enough workers yet to survey the destruction.

At least 200 homes are considered unlivable.

"We won't know the full damage until we see a thaw, right?" said federal Northern and Arctic Affairs Minister Rebecca Chartrand, who got a tour of the community Wednesday with other politicians and Indigenous leaders.