No end in sight for Pimicikamak Cree Nation evacuees even after power returns: leadership

As Pimicikamak Cree Nation struggles to fix damage to homes caused by a four-day power outage, thousands are in the dark about when they can return to their community.

The northern Manitoba First Nation was evacuated last week after a power line servicing the community — located about 530 kilometres north of Winnipeg — snapped, leaving residents without heat in extreme cold temperatures that dropped below the –20 C mark.

Manitoba Hydro repaired the downed power line and fully restored electricity as of Friday. But during the power outage homes were rendered unsafe to live in due to damage to water and electrical systems.

The damages paired with shortage of essential supplies, including fuel, have forced the First Nation to indefinitely extend the evacuation of residents, Chief David Monias said in a statement on Sunday. 

"We are asking people to stay out at their hotels until we can safely return you home," he said on social media. "If you do go back then it will be at your own risk."

Pimicikamak is trying to fix infrastructure and assess homes to determine if repairs are needed, but only about 200 of the over 1,300 residences in the community have been checked, said band Coun. Shirley Robinson.

"It's overwhelming right now," she told CBC News on Sunday. "We haven't had any help arrive yet in our nation." 

Besides infrastructure issues, health concerns, including a lack of potable water, forced out at least 150 more residents from the First Nation by noon on Sunday. The community's water treatment plant was also damaged during the power outage.

Robinson said around 100 others expected to be evacuated by the end of the weekend. 

"This is not going to stop," Robinson said. "Things [are] being currently looked at in ensuring the infants are out, the elders are out, the vulnerable are out."

At a hotel in Winnipeg, Robinson said evacuees are eager to know when they can go back home, but that date isn't fixed in the foreseeable future yet. 

"I wish I could have that answer because when I'm listening to the elders here crying asking when they can go home," she said. "We're trying to get them there."

Kelson Monias, an evacuated father of two, has been in his Winnipeg hotel room watching videos of water pouring from burst pipes and flooding homes in Pimicikamak. He said other residences burned in the community after residents lit wood stoves during the outage. 

"It's sad. I just feel for the people that lost their homes," he said.