Relief in Nova Scotia as main road reopens to Peggy's Cove after disastrous floods

Hundreds of people walk near the lighthouse in Peggy's Cove, N.S., Tuesday, July 4, 2023. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darren Calabrese)

The road to a popular tourist destination in Nova Scotia has reopened after devastating floods last month, bringing a spark of relief to a community hit hard by environmental disasters.

A temporary, one-lane bridge is now up near Blind Bay, N.S., which allows traffic to pass on its way between Halifax and the famous lighthouse in Peggy's Cove. The historic July floods had washed away the road in the area, leaving it impassable.

Pam Lovelace, the municipal councillor for the area, said the bridge is important development for residents' commutes, and for their peace of mind.

"We've just gone through the wildfires. And we're preparing for hurricanes," Lovelace said in an interview Sunday. The flooding, and its aftermath, had a significant effect on people's mental health, she added.

The flooding was triggered by torrential thunderstorms that began July 21, and dumped months worth of rain on parts of central Nova Scotia. Four people died trying to escape the rushing waters: 52-year-old Nick Holland, 14-year-old Terri-Lynn Keddy and Colton Sisco and Natalie Harnish, both six.

The rain began just less than two months after raging forest fires broke out in the Halifax and Shelburne County areas. The flames engulfed houses and forced tens of thousands of people to leave their homes in search of safety.

Next month will be the one-year anniversary of post-tropical storm Fiona making landfall in Nova Scotia. The storm destroyed several homes in the province, and it is believed to have swept an 81-year-old man out to sea.

The road washout near Blind Bay left residents worried there would be an emergency that ambulances and fire trucks couldn't get to quickly, Lovelace said. The road, Route 333, runs south from the Halifax area and westward around the shore to Peggy's Cove, and then back north to the Upper Tantallon region, which was an epicentre for one of the major fires.

People who lived on the Peggy's Cove side of the washout but worked on the other side had to drive all the way round through Halifax to get to their job each day, said Adam Zita, operations manager for East Coast Outfitters, a sea kayaking operation in the area. It added about an hour to their commute each way, he said.

It also made the drive to the lighthouse from Halifax about 20 minutes longer, he said in an interview Sunday.

"We're definitely glad it's there," Zita said about the bridge.

People in the surrounding communities are still talking about the flooding, he added.

"I've lived here for the past 15 or 14 years, and everybody I've asked that's lived here, they haven't seen anything like that, ever," he said. "And I've never experienced anything like this since I've been here."

The road closure has been hard on the area's tourism business, Lovelace said.

She noted that Route 333 is a provincial road, maintained by the Nova Scotia government. The washout -- and the floods and the fires -- have underscored the importance of working with the province to develop emergency and recovery plans so that communication flows more easily between the municipality and the province, and more quickly to the public.

"We don't know how long the temporary bridge will be in place, and we don't know when a permanent solution will be put in place," she said.

-- Story by Sarah Smellie in St. John's, N.L.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 20, 2023.

For more Nova Scotia news visit our dedicated provincial page.