Damage is expected to be in the millions after a weekend storm swept through New Brunswick, collapsing roads and claiming a historic bridge.
Diana Conroy is from the community of Hoyt, N.B. She says the storm’s spillage came in waves and she was prepared for the risk of flooding over the weekend.
“I’d go downstairs and come back and there would be more water coming in the backyard filling up,” says Conroy.
Her husband, Kevin, set off to protect the animals in their barn.
“We had to get the cows out of the barn, we thought it was going to level out at one point, but it didn't it kept rising and rising so we had to get the young stock out,” he says.
Others like the Conroys kept their animals in mind as water levels rose.
“The night we had to get the cattle out we had trailers lined up to take the baby calves away and to help in every way they could, all the farmers got together,” says area-resident, Kathy Garrett.
Crews from the Department of Transportation and Infrastructure were assessing the damage on Monday, and found a vehicle swept off the road by storm water.
“Our crews when they were here early in the morning taking some of the signs away to open the road they could hear this man calling for help,” says New Brunswick’s Transportation and Infrastructure Minister, Bill Fraser. “They were able to call 9-1-1 immediately to get first responders here and they were able to wade through the icy water to help rescue that man and his dog.”
Crews put an additional barrier on the Bell Covered Bridge after rushing water damaged the iconic structure built in 1931. The New Brunswick government says it’s left to maintain 58 remaining covered bridges now, as the historic bridge can’t be salvaged. Officials say plans are underway for it to be replaced with a modular bridge.
“Unfortunately they've given me the news that the bridge is not salvageable, so our priority right now is to get that transportation link back in place,” says Fraser. “We have a number of modular bridges in stock.”
People in Hoyt say they’re left wondering if the recent flood will prompt action to prevent the community from being cut off again.
“Our government is committed to investing strategically in infrastructure and one of the reasons we have to do that is because of these severe weather events. They’re becoming more frequent, they're becoming more severe,” Fraser says.
New Brunswick Progressive Conservative MLA for the area, Jeff Carr says remediation that “should’ve been happening in the area” hasn’t happened.
“It should've happened. It would save a lot of the washouts, but the flooding? We’ll never curve that flooding here the ice jams up in the valley, it backs up, and it's been doing it for 200 plus years,” says Carr.
Officials say damage caused by ice-clogged culverts that spilled over roadways is significant and fairly wide-spread throughout the province, tearing away the shoulders, and in some cases, collapsing roads entirely.
A 12-metre high wall of water backed up behind a culvert in McKees Mills, Bouctouche before it let go and took the road with it.
Bouctouche mayor, Roland Fougere, says it could be awhile before the road sees repairs.
“It’s not something they're going to fix in the next few weeks,” he says.
Crews also responded to numerous culverts in Saint-Antoine, N.B., saying some of the damages were minimal, but others left roads totally washed-out.
According to the province’s Department of Transportation website, there are more than 50 roads or highways washed out or impassable because of flooding.
Hydraulic engineer, Linden Miller, says he’s starting to see a trend in the damages.
“It seems like these storms are getting more numerous,” says Linden. “We've had a few of them in the last five or seven years.”
The ice break-up also affected those who use it for recreation, like ice fishermen, who use the Bouctouche River. Some fishermen say they found their huts submerged and encased with ice after the storm.
Fishermen, Victor Leblanc says he was confident his hut would be safe for the winter when he set it up.
“Usually takes a long time in the spring to go, to melt because it's 20 inches thick, that's a lot of ice eh?” he says.
Torrents continued to flow through the East Branch dam in Musquash N.B., and evacuation warnings were lifted after area-residents were advised to vacate the area over the weekend.
The 1920's era structure is a combination of concrete and earth and emergency officials say they nervously watched as the water level in the head-pond inched higher and higher.
Area-resident, Vanessa Crossman, was back in Musquash Monday, after being told to leave on Saturday.
Crossman says she received a knock on her door and she was asked to “evacuate as soon as possible.”
“We watched the waters rise,” she says. “We knew about the rain, we've seen local flooding here many times. You could hear it. It sounded like a freight train when you opened the door, the sound from the water and we're like, yea that sounds a little dangerous."
There was a similar incident about 20 years ago, when homes below the dam were also evacuated after a heavy rainfall. At the West Musquash Dam, a collapse happened in 1923, claiming the life of one man.
Two large natural gas pipelines transit through the Musquash area and their proximity to the dam was a matter of concern for emergency officials.
"Maritimes Northeast and Brunswick pipelines do run right at the back of that dam and our understanding is that they're in there pretty secure but when that water goes, water usually wins,” says Chief Wayne Pollack of the Musquash Fire Department.
For now, local officials say they’re confident the danger has passed as water levels continue to recede.
With files from CTV Atlantic’s Nick Moore, Jonathan MacInnis and Mike Cameron.
