Use of alert system delayed during deadly flash flooding in Nova Scotia: report

A new report on flooding last year in Nova Scotia that killed four people says the municipality of West Hants faced several challenges in transmitting timely emergency alerts to the public.

The after-action review says that on July 22, 2023, local fire departments started receiving emergency calls at 12:25 a.m. AT, reporting many people had been stranded by floodwaters fed by severe thunderstorms that dumped up to 258 millimetres of rain on the rural area northwest of Halifax.

Within the next hour, the deputy chief of the Brooklyn fire department used a two-way radio to ask the local 911 emergency dispatcher to get the RCMP to issue an alert, and the fire chief also texted the West Hants emergency management co-ordinator to request help with an alert.

But almost two hours would pass before a “shelter in place” alert, using the Alert Ready system, was sent to some wireless devices, as well as radio and TV stations serving the area.

The report, prepared by the West Hants emergency management co-ordinator, says poor cellphone service was partly to blame for the delay, as was the fact that not all cellphones are equipped to receive such messages.

As well, the report says some residents received the alerts in the wrong order, creating confusion.