Sydney residents concerned about flooding following weekend winter storm

The ground was dry in Sydney, N.S., on Monday, but some residents say they are flooded with emotions after the area was drenched for the third weekend this month.

Chelsea O’Neil, who lives in Sydney, says she's frustrated waiting for the city to fix an area that now floods on a regular basis. She says she wants the municipality to move residents affected by the flooding if the problem can't be fixed.

”Accept the inevitable and reasonably buy people out,” said O’Neil. “It would be a huge asset to have the city remove those houses from that area to be able to build a pond or reservoir, or whatever they're calling it, to store that water."

Cape Breton Regional Municipality's mayor is reassuring residents their voices are being heard.

“We are working very hard to find different mitigating projects,” said CBRM Mayor Amanda McDougall.

McDougall and CBRM councillors will soon meet to decide how to spend a $15 million, one-time grant, as part of provincial equalization payments.

“We were presented with a staff list with some ideas of where we can put that investment into, so now it's the work of council to ponder that list and what other projects might be,” said McDougall.

McDougall suspects flood mitigation will be part of those discussions.

“The truth is, the CBRM needs, very soon, a major climate change adaptation fund,” said Cape Breton University political science professor, Tom Urbaniak.

Urbaniak says the municipality needs help from all levels of government, and says the $15 million will evaporate very quickly.

"We are really, really vulnerable here... There's massive coastal erosion and that's affecting some communities,” he said

While flooding isn't an easy fix, Urbaniak says the same can be said for how to spend the one-time grant.

McDougall says she has reached out to the province for funding for flood mitigation. Meanwhile, budget meetings on how to spend the $15 million will be held starting next month.