Residents of one southern New Brunswick community are asking the J.D. Irving Ltd. forestry company to help prevent major flooding in their area this spring.
Bruce Jackson is part of a group of homeowners around Lake Utopia, near St. George, N.B., who keep track of weather statistics.
By keeping track of data like snow accumulation and river levels — the lake is connected to the Magadavic River Valley — Jackson and others believe the patterns point to history repeating itself.
“Unfortunately, we’re mimicking the great freshet winter of 1922-23, in that there’s been a tremendous amount of snowfall,” Jackson said.
The area is familiar with widespread and damaging floods, the most recentin 2010.
But Jackson says the amount of snow accumulation in southern New Brunswick is even greater than back then.
“In 2010, we had 160 families in this area impacted by flooding. We have the potential to be far greater than that this winter,” Jackson said.
The Lake Utopia Preservation Group wants the operator of the St. George Dam — J.D. Irving Ltd. — to gradually lower the river level to create more of a buffer.
“It’s an extraordinary winter. Maybe we should have extraordinary procedures at the dam,” Jackson said.
A spokesman for J.D. Irving Ltd. said the protocol for the dam takes into account factors including rain, snow accumulation and ground saturation.
The company said it is monitoring the situation and will respond quickly if necessary.
Part of the reason why this year’s snow accumulation has led to greater concern about flooding is that virtually none of the now has melted.
“We’ve had a lot of snowfall events not followed by rain, not followed by warm temperatures, so I think every bit of snow that we got, we still have,” said St. George Fire Department Chief Sean Morton.
Both the company and local residents agree that the best thing for the region would be for slow and gradual arrival of spring-like conditions.
With files from CTV Atlantic’s Mike Cameron
