Five weeks after arriving in Timmins, evacuees from the flooding in Kashechewan are starting to go home this week.
Emergency management coordinator Tom Laughren tells My Timmins Now Dot Com that flights are being arranged.
“We had a total on the weekend of close to 850 in town and there will be different flights scheduled throughout the week, out ‘til Sunday, to get them all back,” he reports.
Laughren says the ice jam on the Albany River has moved past the community. Some workers are already back in Kashechewan, making preparations for everyone else to return.
They started arriving on April 15th, in the annual trip to escape flood water from the Albany River.
Laughren says there were no unexpected challenges or problems during the trying time for the evacuees. He says the city put its best foot forward to host them.
“A lot of good things happened, such as schooling out at Northern College,” he comments. “They made sure that they kept the children busy, lots of different events. So I think, overall, it went very well.”
Cochrane and Kapuskasing are also among communities hosting the flood evacuees.