The Village of Clinton is tempering expectations among evacuees about any thoughts of an impending return, while the province moves to reassure them that provincial government assistance will still be there if they’re looking at a 3rd week away from their own beds.

Current Emergency Support Services (ESS) — which cover the cost of hotels, food, and other staples — are set to expire for those evacuated from the Village of Clinton on Friday, August 14.

That date will mark three weeks since the Evacuation Order was first introduced on July 24.

Hopes of an impending return were bolstered over the weekend when BC Hydro crews successfully restored power to the village core and surrounding areas—a critical step in reactivating the local water treatment plant and paving the way for re-entry.

However, the Village of Clinton quickly tempered expectations in a Sunday evening update, stating that a resumption of power –quote– “does not mean the evacuation order will be lifted or that residents can return home this week.”

It’s not clear what issue or issues may be holding up an end to the Evacuation Order for Clinton being rescinded.

However, in an earlier update, Clinton Mayor Roland Stanke did elude to issues connected to the community’s water works in discussing a meeting he had with Forests Minister Ravi Parmar on August 5.

“Also discussed the severe damage in our watershed and both reservoirs,” said Stanke in his update on Facebook without elaborating further.

With no estimated timeline for re-entry, the Village confirmed that provincial emergency management officials will formally review the need for an extension of ESS supports early this week.

To that end, Emergency Management and Climate Readiness Minister Kelly Greene would tell Radio NL in conversation on Monday morning that the province will not leave displaced residents to pay out of pocket if the Evacuation Order rolls beyond this coming Friday.

“If people are on evacuation order, we will be supporting them with emergency support services,” said Greene.  “We know that’s critical for people’s safety and well-being, and we’ll continue to do that.”

The commitment comes as the province grapples with the logistics of finding space for an estimated 21,000 evacuees province-wide, including a significant number displaced from Summerland and Peachland in the Okanagan.

While many of those people will have found alternative places to stay, the fires in the South Okanagan — combined with the diaspora from the Bradley Creek wildfire in the north Okanagan — are likely pushing hotel vacancy rates to their maximums.

When asked if there were any plans to move Okanagan evacuees to areas further afield, such as Kamloops or Tk’emlúps territory to ease the crush of evacuees, Greene suggested that while all options are on the table, the province likes to look for localized solutions where ever possible.

“We try our best to keep people close to their home community,” noted Greene.  “They might have employment that is not impacted, and so we want to keep people close to their employment and the services that are still in place.”

Greene also contends the BC government’s request for tourists to voluntarily avoid recreational travel to the Summerland area is freeing up space.

Space for evacuees may become more of a challenge if there were to be any other mass evacuations in the Kamloops area in the coming week, particularly if the 686 people displaced from the Village of Clinton are stuck waiting beyond this week to head home.

This is something the Village of Clinton eluded to in its Sunday update, suggesting that hotel availability in Kamloops is currently “very limited.”

To address these concerns in evacuation centers like Kamloops or Penticton, Minister Kelly Greene says this is why the province likes to utilize groups like Samaritan’s Purse, which specializes in setting up group lodging facilities very quickly in the face of a mass evacuation.

“Our first priority is making sure that people have a safe place to sleep at night, and so Samaritan’s Purse is one of our partners that we use to help stand up group accommodations,” noted Greene when asked about a decision to request the Christian charity group’s assistance immediately for the South Okanagan.

“We are working with the Hotel Association as well as doing block bookings of hotel rooms to make sure that we can move people into more comfortable surroundings as soon as we’re able to do so,” added Greene.

Greene arrived in Kamloops on Sunday, meeting with the people in charge of the Emergency Operations Centre with the Thompson Nicola Regional District, as well as with those in charge of the EOC for the Village of Clinton, which is being coordinated out of the TNRD’s offices in Kamloops.