Municipal officials in Richmond County looked back at last weekend’s flood.
During the committee-of-the-whole session last night in Arichat, CAO Troy MacCulloch described a “really rough’ weekend when parts of Richmond County received what meteorologists believe to be between 250 and 300 millimetres of rain on the night of September 4th and morning of September 5th which resulted in heavy damage to transportation infrastructure, the closure Highway 104, power outages and the death of a 46-year-old woman. By Saturday afternoon, a Local State of Emergency was called resulting in school closures this week.
As the day went on, the CAO said it became clear that Richmond County received the brunt of the heavy rainfall and flooding.
MacCulloch said the extreme weather took place as the municipality recently pulled together it’s Regional Emergency Management Organization and just hired the REMO director. Despite this challenge, he reported that the new plan is off to a good start.
A culvert is washed out on West Bay road, Saint Georges Channel. (Nova Scotia Government photo)
The CAO said the situation was helped by collaboration and resources from local fire services, search and rescue organizations, Emergency Management officials, neighbouring municipalities, and the Province of Nova Scotia, who were all at the command centre in Port Hawkesbury throughout the weekend.
Along with washed out roads, shoulders, ditches, culverts, and damaged bridges, MacCulloch pointed out that some residents have “six-foot gouges” in their driveways, trapping some on their properties.
In addition to the use of a zodiac from the St. Peter’s and District Volunteer Fire Department to get to trapped residents, MacCulloch said an EHS Helicopter helped conduct wellness checks of residents trapped on either side of washed-out roads in the West Bay area.
