Searchers continue to pump water from flooded Nova Scotia field in search for missing people

Industrial pumps steadily emptied a flooded field northwest of Halifax on Monday as searchers scoured the area for four people, including two children, who went missing after two vehicles were swamped by rushing floodwaters over the weekend.

Abraham Zebian, mayor of West Hants Regional Municipality, was at the site earlier in the day and said search teams were pumping more than 94,000 litres of water a minute from the field. The goal, he said, was to get the water level low enough that people can search the area by foot.

"We're going to stay positive until we have some closure here," Zebian said.

By the afternoon, traffic was being diverted away from the search scene in the marshlands just off the Meander River, a winding tidal river that flows near the locations where the missing people were last seen, near Newport, N.S., about 55 kilometres from Halifax.

Helicopters could be seen flying overhead, and search and search teams walked through the area scouring the ground. Pumps could be heard draining marshy areas.

On Saturday evening, an RCMP dive team recovered an unoccupied pickup truck in more than two metres of water and said it was believed to be the vehicle the children were travelling in. Police said the children were with three other people who managed to escape.

Searchers are looking in the same area for a second vehicle in which a youth and a man who are unaccounted for were travelling.

Paul Johnston, a veterinarian who lives in the area, said that when he woke up on Saturday he walked down to the main road and saw the water rushing knee deep along the road.

Much of the search was being carried out on hay lands that Johnston owns.

"We gradually became more aware over Saturday morning that something terrible had happened down on the corner (at the home where the children were last seen)," he said in an interview on his front porch.

"Our own worries about damaged driveways and such just dissipated and all we care about now is the kids and the other lost people .... For me personally, living here all these years, there's never been anything as devastating as this."

He knows the area well and speculated that the nearby Meander River became a torrent and met resistance from a rising tide.

"The river discovered, as rivers will, that it could escape through those poor peoples' property and out flow into the hay fields," he said. "That created the massive current across the road. It was the river choosing to take a different path."

Heavy rain, which began Friday, dumped between 200 and 250 millimetres of water along Nova Scotia's South Shore, across the Halifax area and into central and western parts of the province.

While the floodwaters had largely receded by Sunday, they left behind a network of damaged and washed out roads and bridges in the province. Provincial officials said 25 bridges had been affected, with 19 damaged and six destroyed. At least 50 roads sustained significant damage.

In the Halifax suburb of Bedford, power was out for many businesses and the hum of generators filled the air as owners assessed the damage caused by the weekend floodwater. The water had almost entirely receded, leaving behind a film of red-brown dirt coating everything the water once touched.

Paul Chang said he has cleaned the dirt and debris out of his tropical fish store twice: once on Saturday morning after the Sackville River left about 30 centimetres of water in his store, and again on Sunday morning after water levels briefly rose and fell again.

"It's been non-stop," Chang said, "and the ground is still muddy, which brings mud back into the store." The flooding damaged his store's inventory, boxes and equipment, though his exotic fish were spared.

The swollen river is just a few metres from the door of John Mills's Quarterback Mobile. He said his business fared better than some, taking on just a few inches of water. Mills took advantage of the sunny afternoon, laying out pieces of carpet to prevent mould.

"I think people need to keep a sense of relativity," Mills said. "Four people are missing. So, if you lost power, you're insured. Inventory, physical possessions, you're insured. I try to remember that."

About 90 kilometres north of Halifax, Canadian National Railway Co. was dealing with a major washout along part of its main line in Nova Scotia. Rail officials said a washed-out culvert had left a stretch of track sagging unsupported over a massive ditch, disrupting freight and passenger travel. Via Rail issued a travel warning, with no bookings available until Friday between Halifax and Moncton, N.B.

As well, mail delivery by Canada Post was on hold in the province until there is a better evaluation of safe areas for delivery.

A provincewide state of emergency declared on Saturday will remain in effect until Aug. 5, and on Sunday federal Emergency Preparedness Minister Bill Blair approved a request from the province for continued assistance.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 24, 2023.

With files from Keith Doucette in Halifax, and Chris Reynolds in Montreal.

This story was produced with the financial assistance of the Meta and Canadian Press News Fellowship.

For the latest Nova Scotia news, visit our dedicated provincial page.