As gaping holes in Richmond County’s roads and driveways continued to get repaired on Wednesday, residents were remembering the woman who lost her life during the weekend flooding. “You see these types of things on TV but you don’t envision it happening in your little community,” said Trevor Boudreau, the Progressive Conservative MLA for Richmond and a family friend of the deceased. Boudreau and other sources confirmed to CTV News that Stephanie Comeau was the 46-year-old whose body was found hours after her vehicle was discovered near a flooded bridge in her home community of Cleveland, N.S., on Saturday. “She loved photography and loved her cats,” Boudreau said, adding in recent years she worked at Maritime Travel in Port Hawkesbury, N.S., and at Strait Supplies in Point Tupper, N.S. “She picked on her bigger sister and protected her little brother – a lovely, lovely person.” Those who knew Comeau said her family is devastated but they do not mourn alone. “One thing about us in Richmond County, we rally around our people and so the support for that family has just been tremendous and they are so appreciative,” Boudreau said. For the second straight day, schools were closed in the area. States of emergency have been lifted for Richmond County as well as in neighbouring Inverness and Victoria Counties. Liberal member of Parliament Jaime Battiste said people who qualify will soon be able to apply for federal Disaster Financial Assistance. “After a threshold, it’s like $4 million-plus in damages, which I guess the estimates right now are about $20 to 30 million in Cape Breton alone,” Battiste said on Wednesday. Battiste said he visited several Richmond County communities on Tuesday and saw some of the damage firsthand. He also explained how the Disaster Financial Assistance program works. “What the province does is assess the damage, work with the municipalities, and then at some point submit something to the federal government and we cover that cost up to whatever is eligible,” Battiste said. Warden Lois Landry said drones are being used to help assess all the repairs that need to be made, adding that there has been no new reported damage. “It will be up to school officials, but it seems to me that their concern has been buses that can’t be on the road,” Landry said. “We would still, of course, have certain routes that are not passable.” A spokesperson for the Department of Public Works added that 21 roads across the County remain closed, adding that four more have opened since early Tuesday. Public Works added that of the 12 bridges that have been impacted, four will have to be replaced. For more Nova Scotia news, visit our dedicated provincial page
