It’s been just over a week since the area near Father Bill Burke’s Parish in the south end of Sydney, N.S., was underwater after roughly 200 millimeters of rain that fell on the area Sept. 4 and 5. “The parking lot was completely flooded,” Burke said on Monday. “There was over a foot of water in the parking lot.” After the Thanksgiving Flood back in October 2016, the church – St. Marguerite Bourgeoys Catholic Parish - was one of many buildings in the neighbourhood that was left with significant damage. Flood mitigation measures have been put into place in the years since and two Saturdays ago, the water drained fairly quickly. However, Burke said the amount that did pool is still cause for concern. “If that rain had continued that day as it had been through the night, I’m not sure,” he said. “I think we might have had another flood.” Tom Penney still owns the land nearby on Hillview Avenue where his home was destroyed by the flood ten years ago. While the water didn’t reach his old property this time, it’s something Penney is keeping an eye on in case any relatives might want to rebuild there. “There would have to be a little more, shall we say, flood mitigation done before anyone would dare build on that property,” Penney said on Monday. A spokesperson for the Cape Breton Regional Municipality (CBRM) said the flood mitigation measures - and their performance during that big storm earlier this month - will be brought before regional council at a date yet to be determined. “There is going to be some detailed modelling done by an engineering consulting firm to do an analysis of exactly how they performed and that analysis will be brought to council for further viewing,” said Christina Lamey on behalf of the CBRM. Lamey said the flood mitigation has made a difference during smaller storms. She added that while there may still be room for improvement, CBRM was the only part of the Island that didn’t suffer infrastructure damage during this month’s heavy rainfall or declare a state of emergency. “Staff’s early assessment is that the berms did work to do their job, which is to hold back water from coming down the hill at the velocity that it normally would for such a large storm,” Lamey said. For Father Burke, plenty is at stake ahead of the next big rainfall. “In 2016, we were just short of $1 million in damage,” he said. “So, if we went through that again, I’m not sure that the Diocese or the insurance company would be willing to rebuild it.” In Richmond County - which got the worst of the damage during the heavy rainfall earlier this month – Nova Scotia’s Department of Public Works said that roughly 20 roads remain closed and five bridges now need to be replaced, up from four late last week. For more Nova Scotia news, visit our dedicated provincial page
