Twenty roads, including Highway 103, still closed after rainstorm, minister says

The torrential and unprecedented rainfall last weekend has taken a huge toll on Nova Scotia’s roads and bridges.

“We haven’t assessed the full extent of the damage,” Public Works Minister Kim Masland said at a media briefing in Halifax on Thursday.

“Still in some places we have rivers where we had roads, some down in Lunenburg County. The water has receded substantially but we’re still getting calls from folks who have cut across a secondary road that may be damaged. It’s really hard to say what the damage is but we’ll be tallying it all up and asking the federal government for assistance with a disaster.”

The minister said the damage will be in the tens of millions of dollars.

Nearly 500 sections of damaged paved and gravel roads and 60 road shoulders have been repaired since last weekend’s storm that dumped as much as 300 millimetres of rain in parts of Halifax Regional Municipality, Lunenburg County and West Hants.

The storm caused severe flooding and took the lives of at least three people, including two young children who were swept away along with the vehicle they were travelling in at Brooklyn in West Hants.

Public Works crews have also replaced 62 culverts as work to repair and replace critical infrastructure continues around the clock.

There are still about 20 provincial road closures, down from nearly 60 on Saturday. Seven Nova Scotia bridges will need to be replaced while 19 bridges that needed some repairs have reopened.

There are 29 bridges that need more extensive repairs, some of which are open with precautions, such as weight limits.

Highway 103 rerouted

The extensive damage to the Goat Lake Bridge, located on Highway 103 about 135 kilometres southwest of downtown Halifax, is a priority for the department, Masland said.

“The 103 sees about 10,000 vehicles a day,” Masland said. “Sadly, right now we’re rerouting that traffic through Exit 7, through Trunk 3 which is two single lanes and it’s very congested.”

Masland said there is extensive damage to the bridge, a “huge” three-panel structure that is 16 metres long and more than six metres high. 

She said her original fear was that the bridge, near Chester, would have to be replaced.

“It would have taken months to replace that,” Masland said.

The abutments at either end of the bridge were severely damaged along with the end piers, but none of the damage is really visible from road level, Masland said.

“We had engineers in there as early as Saturday, back on site and hopefully going in today to put some concrete in and then get our heavy equipment in there to do the work,” she said.

“The engineers believe that we can go in and support that, then fix it. I would expect that we will see it possibly open to one lane within the next couple of days, which will relieve some of that truck traffic on Trunk 3.”

The department was also made aware Tuesday night of three homes that remain isolated in South Rawdon, Hants County, because of damage to Meek Road. 

People there are getting to and from the properties on all-terrain vehicles, and work to restore regular access should be complete in the next few days.

Masland said the department is not aware of any other areas that are cut off by road damage.

Parts of dikes removed

Agriculture Minister Greg Morrow said the department is assisting Nova Scotia Ground Search and Rescue in search efforts in the West Hants and Annapolis Valley areas and is removing parts of dikes to allow trapped water to drain.

“We are also assessing our infrastructure for any damage from flooding,” Morrow said but he did not have any timelines for making repairs. 

The minister said work to reinforce dikes along the Bay of Fundy announced several years ago is underway.

Morrow said there has been farm loss.

“We are working with the (Nova Scotia) Federation of Agriculture to determine the scope of the loss,” he said. “What we’re hearing mostly from the federation is about flooded fields, road washout and product loss. It’s still early to determine the exact totality of the loss and the damage. The weather will play a big role in that, depending on what can be harvested in the coming weeks.”

Morrow said hay, soybeans and vegetables are among the wide-ranging crops lost. 

The minister said crop insurance and the disaster financial assistance program funding, announced Wednesday by the province, are available to farmers who have experienced a loss.

Safety advisories

In the meantime, the province is reminding people not to move any barricades or cones placed around roadwork in an effort to get past the closures. They are there to keep people, including workers, safe. 

People should not attempt to shut off electricity if water is present. Also, people should never cross flooded areas, and they should avoid rivers and streams. Flooding can contaminate well water with bacteria and chemicals that can make the water unsafe to drink. People with wells should take necessary steps to make sure their well water is safe if floodwaters have affected it.

Masland said the Goat Lake Bridge was built in the 1970s and any new department construction takes climate change into account.

“Bridges are being built to Transportation Association of Canada guidelines,” Masland said. “Since I’ve become minister, every project that we’re building in this province is being built with a climate change lens. Bridges are being built higher, we have larger culverts to handle water flow.”