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    • Wicked weekend weather a potential precursor for wet week in New Brunswick

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    It was a wicked weekend of weather for New Brunswickers.

    The province’s north shores were hammered with snow, breaking daily records in areas like Woodstock and Bathurst.

    Further south rain wreaked havoc on locals. In Grand Bay-Westfield, the downpours washed out drivers and shoulders of the road. In one part of town, the rain nearly caused a car to roll downhill into someone’s home with the shoulder of the road giving way.

    Thankfully for them, a retaining wall was able to catch the vehicle, potentially saving tens of thousands of dollars in damages.

    A car saved from rolling down a hill by a retaining wall in Grand Bay-Westfield, N.B. (Avery MacRae/CTV Atlantic)

    ‘It was a little alarming’

    It has been almost a month since a flood covered much of Sussex, N.B., with water. On Sunday morning, the town’s Emergency Operations Centre activated to Level 1 – Enhanced Monitoring after river levels rose overnight.

    While no widespread flooding was reported, some areas did see water rise over the riverbanks and into backyards and onto roadways.

    “We got about 50 millimetres of rain in about 90 minutes,” says Sussex Mayor Marc Thorne. “And that really loaded the creek and when we got up in the morning the creek was at the top of its bank and a little bit over in some areas.”

    The mayor says the town is still recovering from the flood that ravaged homes on Feb. 29. There are still a few large garbage cans on streets for residents to discard of any ruined items, while many await to hear back from their insurance companies on what might be covered.

    The week ahead is filled with rain, and the mayor admits it is a bit nerve-wracking for residents after a troubling month. He says as long as the rain is spread over the week he isn’t worried about another flood.

    “If we know that the intensity is between one-to-five millimetres for a prolonged period of time, we know we are going to be okay,” says Mayor Thorne. “But when it steps up to 25, 15-25 millimetres per hour and it goes on for serval hours, we know we are going to be looking at potential flood conditions.”

    He says the town has multiple indicators within the creek to determine if flood warnings and any actions have to be taken, and based on the early forecast the town isn’t worried about a repeat from less than a month ago.

    For residents, the fears of a second flood in so little time is concerning. Local restaurant owner Ron Baird says he still hasn’t heard from any levels of government on what is being done to solve the towns flooding problems once and for all.

    Until that happens, he will keep the sign on his Golden Arrow Sports Bar that reads: “To our MLA and Mayor, when is the water problem getting fixed?”

    “I don’t know where we are headed and everybody seems to be blaming everybody but nothing is getting done,” says Baird. “It’s very frustrating and it could be another few sleepless nights for residents in Sussex.”

    Mayor Thorne says there has been some movement from the provincial government since that flood earlier this month in terms of securing funding to start projects that would mitigate flooding risks in Sussex, while there has been no word on the federal side of things. 

    For more New Brunswick news visit our dedicated provincial page.

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