Flood-related evacuation orders and detours remain in Nova Scotia's South Shore

Detours and evacuation orders are still in place in Nova Scotia’s South Shore and it’s unclear for how long the disruption could last.

One of the roads closed off leads to RayPort Campground in Mahone Bay.

“The current was strong enough to rip up the asphalt,” said campground owner Dave Eisnor.

That was enough to force the mandatory evacuation of the campground yesterday afternoon.

“This is our only road in and out so we were basically on an island,” Eisnor said.

Rising water forced trailers to be moved to higher ground away from the river.

The mandatory evacuation order came after the water receded from the road.

“A couple hours with a backhoe from D.O.T. and some gravel would’ve fixed it up and solved the whole problem but instead the whole campground was evacuated,” Eisnor said.

That meant seasonal campers like Clyde Lantz had to leave in a hurry.

“We move down here in the summertime. All the wife’s clothes, all of our meds, everything was in there. We had to get out,” Lantz said.

Flood waters also damaged supports for an overpass on Highway 103. A detour at exit 7 is rerouting all traffic through Chester.

That’s where Dennis Zinck has taken it upon himself to do some minor repairs.

“I’m trying to fix the side of the road up because the gravel here was right out across the white line there,” Zinck said.

The Chester resident says the increase in traffic is making it dangerous for anyone to be on the side of the road.

“I think it’s pretty bad. We’ve got big lumber trucks going by,” said Zinck.

“I went to the highway department this morning and I asked for some temporary signage and he said we don’t have any signage to give you.”

With many roads and highways damaged by this weekend’s storm, the owner of RayPort Campground said he’s not sure when crews will be able to get to this road leading to the campground so he can reopen and let the campers back in.

“We really haven’t heard anything since yesterday,” Eisnor said.

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