People from the northern Ontario community of Kashechewan are being shuttled around again after learning that it could be months before spring flood damage is cleaned up enough to let them return home.

On Sunday, about 250 Kashechewan residents arrived at the Sudbury airport from Geraldton, a small town 700 kilometres to the west, where they spent a week sleeping in gymnasiums and curling rinks.

"I feel weird because I've been on the planes too many times," eight-year-old Quentin said as he got off the plane.




He and his family are doing so much flying because the provincial government keeps evacuating Kashechewan, spending millions of dollars to airlift and house about 1,100 people in communities across Ontario.

The Cree-speaking community, located on the west coast of James Bay, captured headlines last October after high levels of E. coli bacteria were found in the drinking water.

Eight days ago, people were forced out of their homes again, this time by spring floods.

"It's more scary and traumatic this time," Kashechewan resident Jennifer Wynne said Sunday.

Everyone panicked when water levels nearly tipped over a dike surrounding the reserve, reaching a higher level than ever before recorded, she said.

After leaving Kashechewan this time, Wynne said she heard that the flood waters caused the community's sewage lagoon to overflow – downhill into the water treatment plant that caused so much trouble last October.

Getting the plant decontaminated is expected to take two months.

Wynne said most members of the community want to move away from the flood plain on which it was built, and "probably move to a higher place, but not far – probably just a couple of miles away."

But until that happens, Wynne said she expects continued problems in Kashechewan.