Heavy rain overnight Monday washed out several North Shore roads trapping families at home and creating headaches for some farmers.
Paul Clark operates the Fur Afee Traders farm in Earltown and was dismayed to discover the Church Road, providing access to his mountain top farm was washed out in at least two places early Tuesday morning leaving his family of four stranded.
"The problem we're having is the water is running under the road around the culverts," said Clark.
"The road collapsed and its like a big gaping hole."
Clark was very concerned about how he was going to receive a two-ton feed order scheduled for delivery this morning for the 4,300 minks on the farm.
"I have to get feed up here tomorrow morning," he said.
"During the colder season we bring in feed two times a week."
He was trying to find a solution that would enable him to bring just enough feed across the washouts to get by until repairs were made and a larger order could be shipped in.
Clark is also worried the heavy rain mixed with melting snow from the mountain may delay the Department of Transportation's repair efforts.
Extreme flooding on the Matheson Brook Road prevented Alan Hayman from reaching his dairy farm after returning from a meeting Monday night.
Tuesday morning, on foot, he found a way around a giant flooded area, that ripped apart his driveway and destroyed a large section of the road in front of his farm depositing a swath rocks and gravel in his fields.
With the only access road washed away and limited milk storage tanks Hayman was considering his options if the processing plant's milk truck couldn't get through the road within a day.
"We have storage for about a day and after that we'll have to dump it," said the farmer.
That could mean the loss of about 1,300 litres of milk.
Hayman said flooding has been a problem there in the past but this was exceptionally bad.
Repair crews were able to fix a number of washed out areas by Tuesday afternoon but a few roads remained closed overnight including Lake Road, Trout Brook Road, Church Road, and the Matheson Brook Road.
smartell.news@ns.sympatico.ca
Washouts along North Shore damage roads, trap residents
Washouts along North Shore damage roads, trap residents
- Published on Febuary 20th, 2008
- Published on December 31st, 2009
-
Sherry Martell
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Comments
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- Military
- - January 18th, 2010 at 13:13:06
Pictou does not experience unusual flooding for a waterfront town; and I have been here for many a Moon:)
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- coast_girl
- - January 18th, 2010 at 11:50:01
I'm not from Pictou, so please bear with the questions. I am curious though, does Pictou experience much flooding? I'm particularly interested in any flooding that's observed along the coast. Does downtown Pictou flood much?
I would really like to hear from those of you that live in the area. I've been getting more and more interested with the topics of sea-level rise and storm surge in the province of Nova Scotia and I really want to take note of the areas that get hit the worst.
Thanks in advance for any insight! -
- Al
- - January 18th, 2010 at 11:47:11
Coast Girl -- I live right on an inlet of the Ocean about 5 miles from Pictou (Town of that is), and flooding in our area only happens on rare occasions, such as a severe storm with wind, and a high tide, and heavy rainfall.
This has changed little in the fifteen years that we have lived here.
I am not aware of ocean flooding being a problem in Pictou Town, but in neighbouring New Glasgow there sometimes is flooding from the East River (tidal river) backing up due to ice.
From what I have heard and seen, ocean rise is not creating any problems in this immediate area, but I can't speak for other areas of Nova Scotia.
Neighbouring Truro does have quite a bit of flooding, but it is partly located on a flood plain.
The stories you read about above are inland quite a distance from the Coast , and has more to do (perhaps) with clearcutting on hilly terain allowing heavy rainfall to run off more quickly than if it was left in forest.
I hope this is helpful to you.
