As parts of New Brunswick brace for spring flooding, people in one community are especially nervous because they’re well aware of the damage rising water levels can cause.

The eyes of the Maritimes were on Sussex, N.B. in the spring of 2014, when a devastating flash flood hit.

Town officials say some residents are still fixing flood damage in their homes, and will be for some time yet.

“The Town, we had some damage to some of our buildings and we just completed the repairs last month — so it took us 10 and a half months to get back to where we were at this time last year,” said Scott Hatcher, Sussex’s chief administrative officer.

The flood damaged dozens of businesses and hundreds of homes.

Resident Kathy Holloway recalls how her desk was surrounded by water one-metre deep.

She says, since the flood, many in Sussex have become almost obsessed with the weather.

“We turn on the news every morning hoping for a sunny day. We don’t want water — we’ve had enough of it,” Holloway said.

Kelly Anderson owns a wine shop near Trout Creek, which overflowed its banks at the time.

“You couldn’t open the front door or the back door because of the water,” Anderson said.

“It’s pretty said when you’re looking through the window of your store and you can see water, and you can’t come in or pick anything off the floor,” she said.

It was only insurance coverage that saved Sarah Toole’s RV business from going under.

“Since that happened, I checked with my insurance company to make sure I have tornado insurance, hail insurance, every possible scenario that I could come up with,” Toole said.

She’s not the only one trying to be better prepared for the next time around.

One local Tim Horton’s location has had its building been covered in plastic wrap and sandbags.

As rising water levels cause concern throughout the province, residents can only hope they won’t spend another year recovering from another flood.

With files from CTV Atlantic’s Mike Cameron