Some 700 evacuees from the Cree community of Waswanipi, in Nord-du-Québec, drove for a good part of Wednesday to arrive in Quebec City late Wednesday evening and thus get as far away as possible from the forest fires that are rage.
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From the night of Wednesday to Thursday, the City of Quebec took care of some 200 people (125 children and 75 adults) who slept at the ExpoCité fairgrounds. The other 500 people stayed with relatives or at a hotel last night in the Quebec region.
At the Center de Foires, children were playing ball on Thursday morning without worrying too much about the situation. Adults slept on cots visibly tired from the long journey the night before.
The features drawn, others had their breakfast and were hanging on their phones seeking news of their loved ones who are being evacuated.
Clarence’s long journey
Thursday morning, The newspaper met Clarence Trapper in the ExpoCité parking lot. The latter left his house on Wednesday around 4 p.m. with his six children and four dogs and arrived here a little before midnight.
Although he never felt in danger, Clarence says he chose to obey the evacuation order. Visibly tired, however, he said he was happy to be safe. “We were told on Tuesday evening that we had to go to Quebec. So we are here, ”he dropped, visibly fatalistic.
Clarence’s children spent the night at the hotel. He chose to stay in his pick-up with his dogs, because there was not enough space for them at the hotel. “Dogs are part of the family too,” he added.
The Red Cross provided beds overnight from Wednesday to Thursday and blue-collar workers from the City of Quebec carried out their assembly during the last hours.
To the delight of the children, the pizza arrived at the Center de expositions around 3 a.m., reported the public security officials of the Municipality.
Welcome
For the moment, the evacuees are gathered at the Center des expositions de Québec. Other people from this community are possibly on their way to Quebec.
The Grand Chief of the Huron-Wendat community, Rémy Vincent, raised his hand to receive the disaster victims last Friday. But he quickly realized that the needs are very great and contacted the authorities of the City of Quebec for their help.
Mayor Bruno Marchand said that the City of Quebec reacted quickly to this call and that it would have the capacity to accommodate up to 1,400 people.
For the moment, no call for help to the population of Quebec has been launched by the mayor. But that could change, as needed, in the coming hours.