Lightning strike, low river tide triggers water crisis on northern Quebec Cree community

Vanna Blacksmith · CBC News

· Posted: Jun 04, 2025 11:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 1 hr ago

The Cree Nation of Chisasibi has declared a authorities of exigency due to the fact that of an ongoing h2o shortage. Many section services, including the infirmary and elders home, are besides operating connected reduced services due to the fact that of the issue.

Chisasibi is the largest assemblage successful Eeyou Istchee, with astir 5,200 residents. It besides has the lone infirmary successful the region.

The bluish Quebec Cree assemblage has been experiencing debased h2o unit and constricted volume, and was wholly without h2o betwixt Monday greeting and Tuesday morning.

A boil-water advisory is besides present successful effect and residents are being asked to conserve. Schools and daycares person besides been closed since Monday. 

Local leaders are taking short-term precautionary measures until they hole the problem, including bringing successful shipments of h2o to administer to residents starting Tuesday evening.

"Early this afternoon, the Cree Nation of Chisasibi declared a authorities of exigency for h2o shortage," said Jason Coonishish, manager of exigency measures and catastrophe readying for the Cree Health Board, connected Tuesday.

The waterplant sustained harm owed to a lightning strike, according to an authoritative connection connected the Cree Nation of Chisasibi Facebook page, but Coonishish besides thinks the river's debased tides are besides a factor. 

"There's excessively overmuch debris successful the stream due to the fact that it's truthful shallow and precise dry. It's having a hard clip keeping up with pumping h2o to capable up the reservoir astatine the plant," said Coonishish.

Some patients transferred to Montreal

The Cree Health Board said successful a connection connected Tuesday that on with the section infirmary and elders' centre, the assemblage miyupimaatisiiun centre (CMC) and multi-service time centre (MSDC) are besides operating astatine reduced services.

Urgent and indispensable services are different operating regularly, though residents who request hemodialysis attraction are being transferred to Montreal, according to Coonishish. He said they person truthful acold medevaced astir 9 patients. 

Chisasibi experienced a h2o shut-off from 10 a.m. Monday until 5:30 a.m. Tuesday. Water was concisely restored connected Tuesday, allowing residents to cod immoderate for their households, but was again unopen down, Coonishish confirmed.

"That was conscionable a abbreviated word due to the fact that present they person to refill it again. We had issues astatine the h2o plant," said Coonishish.

Coonishish says section and determination efforts are underway to bring much usable h2o for families. 

"The section exigency squad acceptable up immoderate basins of h2o on the enactment of the stream truthful that radical tin spell determination with their pails truthful that they tin usage them to flush their toilets astatine home," helium said. 

Daisy House, main of Chisasibi, said assemblage members are successful precocious spirits contempt the h2o shortage.

House said she appreciates their co-operation, resilience and creativity successful collecting h2o astatine the impermanent presumption by the river. 

"We inactive cognize however to relation without moving h2o due to the fact that that's what we bash erstwhile we spell to our camp. It's similar camping for galore of them," House said.

"They're precise originative with what they were utilizing recycle bins and pails for camps, truthful precise creative, precise resilient, and moving together."

The Cree Nation of Chisasibi besides received implicit 8,000 pounds of bottled h2o via AirCreebec. It's been distributed to residents from the Mitchaup building, with precedence fixed to susceptible radical specified as elders, young parents, and radical with aesculapian needs.

Two much shipments of cleanable h2o were expected to get later.

"The engineers, h2o operators, Hydro-Québec, the Cree Nation authorities are moving unneurotic to enactment astir the clock," said House.

"Some of the operators hadn't slept 24 hours yesterday morning. We said that they request to rest, however, they're truthful dedicated and inactive successful precocious spirits considering the situation."

Barry Bearkskin, Chisasibi's manager of wide operations, said the lightning onslaught "burned the bosom of the h2o attraction program system." 

"One of the panels that the h2o attraction works relies connected for monitoring, controlling the pumps, everything. So the h2o attraction works was crippled, determination was thing functional," Bearskin said.

The short-term program is to summation h2o levels, Bearskin said.

"We are moving with Hydro-Québec to supply the pumps successful the stream to summation the h2o into the h2o attraction works truthful h2o tin beryllium processed astatine a higher gait than what we're producing close now," helium said. 

For semipermanent solutions, they are inactive looking for ways to forestall the situations from happening again. 

"The engineers are moving astir the timepiece to travel up with the semipermanent solution, truthful hopefully we won't find ourselves successful this concern again successful the future," Bearskin.

It is unclear how agelong it volition instrumentality for the h2o strategy to beryllium operating normally. Local leaders suggest residents usage h2o sparingly and banal up connected bottled water.

"Right present they're moving connected fixing each the problems, and it's day-to-day," said Coonishish.