N.S. island residents worried about waves’ impact on bridge

Seaweed deposited by waves provide evidence as to how high the sea rises along Paddy’s Head Road.

Katheryn Boutilier has lived on Paddy’s Head Island in Nova Scotia for 55 years and has seen a lot of storms, but the effects of recent weather events have her on edge.

One of the main concerns is this integrity of a wooden bridge that connects them with the mainland.

“Both sides of the bridge entrance are all eroded as you see along the road here, right up underneath the edge of the pavement,” says Boutilier.

The bridge takes a pounding from the waters of St. Margaret’s Bay on the west side and Indian Harbour on the east.

“Hurricane Lee just wiped out the abutment and nothing has really been done to the bridge since Hurricane Juan,” Boutilier says.

“Everyone depends on the passage of the bridge for oil, emergency help.”

The bridge at Paddy's Head Island, N.S., is pictured. (Jonathan MacInnis/CTV News Atlantic)

“This is an area that sees massive storm surges during storms,” says the area’s councilor, Pam Lovelace.

She says the road is provincial jurisdiction and they been aware of the crumbling infrastructure for years.

“They haven’t done upgrades to the bridge and I’m concerned that we’re going to see something similar to what folks saw with the Blind Bay Bridge, where the bridge became unusable completely because of the floods,” Lovelace says.

If that happens, the dozen or so homes on the island will only be accessible by boat.

“There are very vulnerable seniors that will be cut off if this bridge is further compromised,” says Lovelace.

For residents like Katheryn Boutilier, because of the increase in frequency and severity of storms, weather watching has become a year round necessity.

“Winter is coming , and who’s to say we’re not going to get another big storm because the sea comes across even in the winter storms, it doesn’t have to be a hurricane,” she says.

And that might be all it takes to cut the residents of Paddy’s Head Island off from the mainland and emergency vehicles from getting to them.

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