Wednesday, 07 December 2011 11:20
 |
| People gather in Chisasibi, Que., on Tuesday. The power has been out in most of Chisasibi and Wemindji in freezing temperatures since Monday morning. Image from CBC.ca |
Chisasibi and Wemindji declared a state of emergency on Monday when they found out the power outage could last up to 48 hours.
The public utility began bringing power back slowly to Chisasibi Tuesday, with electricity restored to about a third of residents in that community at about 5 p.m. ET. About 379 houses out of 1,240 had power in Chisasibi late Tuesday along with some public buildings.
Crews are expected to be working on the situation in Wemindji Wednesday.
Jason Coonishish, coordinator of emergency measures for the Cree Health Board, said despite the cold temperatures, people are not panicking about the lack of power.
"We got the generator going at the school so we can put some people in there, so we had about 500 people taken into the school in Chisasibi."
He said people are doing all right.
"The only concern we have is the fuel on the generators. We're going to need about 1,600 litres a day for the generators."
Duration of outage uncertain
Wemindji and Chisasibi lost power at 9 a.m. Monday. Chisasibi has a population of about 4,000, with Wemindji at 1,200. The Cree communities are close to the eastern shore of James Bay, about 260 kilometres apart.
Both communities are powered by one grid, which is connected to the La Grande dam nearby.
Wemindji Chief Rodney Mark said his community is keeping tabs on the power situation thanks to the local cellphone company which kept its tower operating.
"So everybody is able to communicate through Facebook, text message or door-to-door for the elders," he said.
Mark said Hydro Quebec first told them the outage was only going to last until early afternoon Monday.
Then he found out it would be at least two days.
"We met with the council and we basically decided later in the afternoon around 5 to declare a state of emergency to shut the school down, the daycares, to shut everything down for conservation purposes."
Mark said most homes in Wemindji have a woodstove, so heat and cooking food is not a problem. The major challenge right now, he said, is making sure people have enough firewood.
He added the outage has actually gotten people talking.
"I think a lot of people are just sitting home without iPads, iPods, television or sitting in front of a computer with the Facebook. I think everyone is just sitting down reminiscing about what happened, and before hydro development came," he said.