KENTVILLE, N.S. — Post-Tropical Storm Erin paid Kings County a heavy, soaking visit Aug. 29. Rain fell through the night and into the early morning hours the following day, resulting in intermittent flooding throughout Kings County and some of segments of road that were far worse for the wear by the end of it.
That rain made the last day before the Labour Day long weekend a doozy for local and regional governments, emergency services, and the Department of Transportation and Infrastructure Renewal (TIR).
Although the storm brought damage to some areas of the province, much of Kings County fared well for a post-tropical storm. That being said, Erin’s wrath inevitably resulted in some pain. One area where the storm was felt was Scots Bay, with flooding spreading mud and debris across the roads.
An area near Rockwell Mountain and Thorpe road was also hit hard, resulting in the complete collapse of a portion of the road and a displaced culvert.
RAIN
When he was contacted by Kings County the day after the flooding, Dan Stovel Regional Emergency Management Coordinator for Kings County, was still in the midst of assessing what went on, and what had to be done to rectify it.
Stovel reported that the most significant rainfall from Thursday night was recorded in the Scots Bay area – 151 millimeters.
“The reports started coming in after midnight,” Stovel said. “By about 2:20 a.m. there were reports from the Scots Bay area about some road wipeouts there were quickly fixed by TIR.”
Stovel alluded to a couple of driveways in the Scots Bay area being washed out as one of the more egregious symptoms of post-Erin damage.
“Those were 15-foot-wide-by-15-foot-deep gaps in some areas,” Stovel noted.
Despite the heavy damage, Stovel noted that TIR staff and local fire departments in the areas affected most severely worked diligently and quickly to restore access for those residents with trucks full of backfill on the scene quickly.
Stovel noted one silver lining is that there were no power outages in the region. The closest Kings County came to that was an area where the land was heavily eroded by floodwater around a power pole. Even in that case, the power pole remained upright and functional.
“Kudos to public works, all the fire departments in the region, TIR and police services for their quick actions,” Stovel said.
LOCAL EFFECTS
In Kentville, the rain resulted in only a number of specific areas feeling Erin’s wrath, noted CAO Mark Phillips.
The storm water resulted in water levels exceeding the capacity of the town’s system in certain areas.
“The intensity and volume essentially overwhelmed our system. The damage resulting from that depends on where you reside, the elevation, and how close you were to ditches and culverts,” Phillips said in a call with Kings County News.
The area near Condon Avenue was the scene of a rather dramatic cleanup effort the day after the storm. Flood water moved a significant amount of debris, including mud, stones and sticks onto the road, requiring the vigor of a work team and front-end loader to clear.
Public works crews were quickly on the scene to remedy this, shoveling mud, and other debris out of the way.
“There were a few other isolated little areas,” Phillips said, noting the local business park was also affected, with some ditch flooding and “undermined roads.”
In the rest of Kentville, Phillips noted no roads were lost or completely blocked, although some had to be reduced to a single lane during the cleanup.
LOCAL ISSUE
Much of the debris lying on Park Street in the early hours of Friday was the culprit for the flooding, Phillips noted.
“We have storm systems that feed into a closed system. The closed systems are pipes and the open systems are ditches,” Phillips said. “When you’re dealing with branches, leaves and rocks and things like that, it stirs up the natural environment, and when water can’t fit into the closed system, it spills onto the street.”
As Friday wore down, Phillips reported a situation was under control, with most of the storm weather system cleaned up.
Residents whose property has been affected by the flooding are in contact with their insurance providers, he added.
Phillips noted the cleanup of debris constitutes “response mode.”
“Our next step is to go into recovery mode (repairs to local infrastructure), and then, perhaps improvement mode, to assess our infrastructure and see what long-range changes may be warranted.”
