By Tina Comeau
(With photos from Carla Allen, Tina Comeau and NovaNewsNow readers)
THE VANGUARD
NovaNewsNow.com
(STORY LAST UPDATED 8 A.M. MONDAY MORNING) The rain keeps falling and falling and falling over Yarmouth County.
A three-day count from Friday, Nov, 5 to the end of the day Sunday, Nov. 7 has seen 185.6 mm of rain fall over Yarmouth County and by daybreak on Monday it had added up to over 200 mm. More rain is forecast for Monday.
Residents may start to see a break from the rain by Wednesday afternoon or Thursday, but the damage has already been done.
The situation is serious. The Department of Transportation continues to monitor roads and all bridges. Dams in the area are pressed to capacity and at risk of breaching. Flooding continues to close roads. Shoulders are being eroded.
Last Friday Yarmouth County had more percepitation in one day than it did during the entire month of November last year, and almost double the amount when you added Saturday's rain total.
According to data collected at the Environment Canada weather station at the Yarmouth airport, 150.4 mm of rain had fallen on Friday, Nov. 5 and Saturday, Nov. 6. By 8 a.m. Sunday morning the amount of rain had increased to 174 mm.
In the entire month of November 2009, only 87.2 mm of percepitation had fallen.
Three consecutive days of rainfall warnings had been issued.
People have been contending with flooded basements and are having to rip up flooring and replace sections of walls. There were reports of localized flooding throughout the county and washed out roads, along with concern about some bridges. The concern about bridges remains. On Sunday a bridge on the Saunders Road was washed away. The pavement had collapsed and water was rushing over it. The road was closed.
It's not just one area of the county being affected. All parts of the county were being impacted. Among the latest area feeling the strain of potential flooding was Quinan, where residents have been evacuated from their homes. A comfort station has been opened at the Club des Audacieux in Quinan.
On Monday morning the Tri-County Regional School Board said it was going to do its best to get to as many roads as it safely can to pick up students on buses.
Motorists have been advised throughout the weekend, and they're still being cautioned, to use alternate routes in areas where roads were flooded and to adjust their speed where hydroplaning and flooding may occur.
- Read more special articles :
- - Tusket bridge is gone
- - PHOTOS AND VIDEO: Tusket bridge is no more
- - Quinan residents reflect on flood
- - Monday morning rain hangover
On mid-Saturday afternoon Harold Richardson of the Emergency Measures Organization said they were in the moving some people in the Raynardton area from their homes over concern that a dam in the county was at risk of a breach and that could impact things downstream.
The Municipality of Yarmouth had declared a local state of emergency to respond to rising water levels that may exceed the capacity of Raynard's Lake. Declaring a state of emergency empowered Yarmouth EMO to evacuate residents of the seven households immediately below the lake as a precautionary measure.
Downstream of Raynard's Lake, Yarmouth EMO and NS Power continued to closely monitor water levels at Lake Vaughan, which NS Power lowered in preparation for the severe rains.
On Saturday the Nova Scotia Department of Transportation and Infrastructure Renewal had closed the Raynardton Bridge to traffic and also gravel sections of the Raynardton Road.
Power outages were not a problem in Yarmouth County as a result of the storm. There were power outages in other parts of the province, but by Saturday afternoon a lot of that power had been restored.
The province's Emergency Management Office is asking Nova Scotians to exercise caution around all bodies of water, and particularly around rivers.
"With rivers and waterways rising quickly, it is possible that we could see overflow and fast-moving waters," said Frank Corbett, deputy premier and acting Minister of Emergency Management. "The safest thing to do is to stay away from the banks. It can quickly become dangerous to take part in activities near swollen rivers and streams."
The provincial EMO cautions that waterways that look calm and safe one moment can quickly become dangerous as water levels and flows change, often without warning. Moving water only six inches (15 centimetres) deep can cause people to be swept off their feet.
Quickly rising water levels can leave people stranded on pieces of land within rivers. People are urged to wait until conditions are safe to retrieve boats that are forced into the water or are surrounded by debris.
Over the weekend the RCMP were investigating a report that a man that went missing at Peggy’s Cove.
On Saturday the Halifax District RCMP members received a 911 call that a man had fallen off the rocks and into the water at Peggy’s Cove. A witness heard a man yelling for help. An RCMP member arrived on the scene to investigate and, as he was on the rocks, fell into the water. The officer managed to get back out of the water, with the aid of another police officer and fire personnel. Emergency personnel transported the two officers to the hospital with non-life threatening injuries. The search for the man in distress was ongoing on Sunday.
Meanwhile, the following is a list of roads where portions of them were reported to be closed in Yarmouth County on Saturday morning as a result of the storm and flooding: Regent Street, Spinney Road, Tinkham Road, Holley Road, Hardwood Hills Road, Minor Road, Depot Road, North Kempt Road and Chemin de la Pre.
There were also reports of roads that were experiencing some flooding but were passable, although officials said conditions may change. These areas had included: Comeau's Hill Road, Crosby Road, Brenton Cross Road, Chebogue Road, Bloomfield Road, Route 340 (Hebron), Route 308 (Tusket) , Route 203 (by the Roberts Road), Eel Lake Road, Mood Road, Raynardton Road and the Tittle Road.
There were also reports of roads with significant shoulder damage.
In fact on Sunday there were so many signs posted throughout the county of closed roads and flooding areas that officials were starting to worry that they would run out of signs.
On Sunday more roads were added to the list of closures due to flooding: the Saunders Road and Route 203 (near the former tin mine site), the North Kempt Road at the Rankin Bridge and Route 308 near Quinan.
Phil Landry, the superintendent of the Tri-County Regional School Board, told the Yarmouth Vanguard on Sunday afternoon that they had asked the Department of Transportation for a report on road situations. Landry said he did not know yet at that time what impact the rain situation could have on busing on Monday morning.
On its website later in the day the school board said it will do its upmost to ensure that buses pick up students as usual on roads that are accessible.
(Note to readers: If you have photos from this rain storm you'd like to submit, we'll be posting some on our website. You can email them to info@thevanguard.ca. Include where the photo was taken and who it was taken by.)
See next page for information on dealing with floods:
I do remember the rope and had a lots of fun on it.I used to walk down from whitehouse corner a lot to swim there .At that time the Sweeny's lived in the house. Then when they moved I'm not sure who moved in.I have never seen this much flooding around.I now live on on the Holly rd. in brazil lake there is no pics.but my road was closed ,the road was flooded down at the pleasent vally end and the dam in gardeners mill is gone it washed out to.There is a lots of water around.