Floods cause evacuations on two First Nations

Wet weather caused two First Nations to declare local states of emergency and to evacuate. In mid-June, washed out roads blocking all five accesses to the reserve forced James Smith Cree Nation to declare a state of emergency and a dozen families were evacuated to a hotel in Melfort. Band officials said they were in the midst of restructuring the roads when the rain hit. Officials hope to meet with Aboriginal Affairs and the provincial government to get a plan in place to avoid a similar situation in the future. Melfort, along with Saskatoon, Nipawin, Tisdale and Prince Albert, also took evacuees from Cumberland House First Nation and the village of Cumberland. Nearly 2,200 were evacuated on June 24. Cumberland evacuees returned home July 5 followed shortly by the 70 James Smith evacuees.