People who live near Dominion Beach fear their homes could be Mother Nature’s next target

For years there has been a fight to save Dominion Beach from erosion, but with each passing storm, that fight is getting more difficult.

“The waves were coming right over the sandbar out there. I couldn't see the sandbar there was that much water and today you can see it and it’s breached,” said Stan Peach, Glace Bay, N.S. resident.

More than 100 millimetres of rain fell on parts of Cape Breton late Sunday through Monday.

The breach means water can now access the pond behind the beach and allow it to flow closer to infrastructure and houses.

“Every property along here is in jeopardy,” said Peach.

Including an historic one room school house built in 1888. For the first time, ocean water reached the property.

“The water was right up to the road, Seaside Drive, so that's a sign of what's to come unless something is done here,” said Darren Bruckschwaiger, CBRM councilor.

Dominion Beach is provincially owned.

Bruckswaiger says a protective rock wall was built in 2010, by the NDP government at the time, as the first part of a three-phase plan.

The wall has helped protect a building on the grounds and the parking lot, but he says the two other phases were never completed.

“It's something I’ve been fighting for 25 years. I spoke to a lot of politicians, premiers, ministers, and a lot of nice people, but it's been nothing but lip service and nothing has been done here,” he added.

At one time, Dominion Beach was the second most popular beach in the province, with tens of thousands of people visiting each year.

“I've had my kids on that, my grandkids on that and people are not going to be able to do that anymore. They are not going to be able to spend the time there that I spent with my kids, it's too bad,” said Peach.

A spokesperson for the Department of Natural Resources and Renewables says they are considering options for sustainable park management.

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