The water is beginning to subside in Sydney after a weekend of heavy rainfall, but that is doing little to reassure resident living in the city’s flood-prone area.
Resident Walter Doue says the municipality isn’t doing enough to block floodwater, and his patience is wearing thin.
“Once they dredge it down a couple of feet, then come along with some rock and bank it. I'm not an engineer, but it's just common sense,” Doue says.
Residents say water levels came dangerously close to repeating one of the worst floods to hit the area. In 2016, more than 200 millmetres of rain severely damaged homes and buildings -- including Saint Marguerite Bourgeois Parish.
Father Bill Burke is worried not enough is being done.
“I was really nervous, thinking, ‘Oh Lord, not again,'” Burke says. “Immediately following the flood they had bulldozers in here and they were cleaning out the wash brook. But then I haven't seen anything since.”
In an email to CTV News, the Cape Breton Regional Municipality said there were extensive repairs done following the Thanksgiving Day storm in 2016, and that a local engineering firm has been hired to look at long-term solutions.
The CBRM also said they've received funding through the province's Flood Risk Infrastructure Investment Program. Their objective is to use the money to quantify flood risks and establish potential solutions to mitigate flood impacts within the wash brooks.
But that’s coming as little comfort to Walter Doue, who is concerned his home will be added to the list of residences to be demolished due to flooding.
“When is something going to happen? When you don't get a return phone call and just leave a message, and you don't receive anything, anything back,” Doue says.
With files from CTV Atlantic’s Kyle Moore.
