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Vehicles drive along Old Route 4 in floodwater conditions, in Richmond County, Cape Breton, N.S., on Saturday.Steve Wadden/The Canadian Press
Two Cape Breton counties have lifted their local states of emergency while another is keeping travel restrictions in place following widespread flooding over the weekend.
A slow-moving storm dropped more than 200 millimetres of rain on some parts of the Nova Scotia island in less than two days. It washed out roads and culverts, damaged bridges and temporarily left some people stranded in their neighbourhoods.
Victoria and Inverness counties lifted states of local emergency Tuesday evening. Richmond County remained in a state of local emergency Wednesday, which prohibits unnecessary travel across the area. Schools remained closed as a result.
The county’s warden said the decision to maintain the state of emergency allows for further assessment of roads and infrastructure in the hardest-hit areas.
Repair begins on damage from devastating storm, washing over Cape Breton
“Our issues today are twofold: continuing those recovery, repair and reconstruction efforts, but also to do the last of the assessments we need to have confidence in the existing infrastructure,” Lois Landry said in an interview Wednesday.
Landry said Route 4 between the towns of Port Hawkesbury and St. Peter’s was badly damaged, as were spots in the River Bourgeois area. She said repair work has been done, and the roads will be in good shape once they receive a new layer of asphalt.
The warden said there are bigger infrastructure concerns in the area around the St. Georges Channel and The Points West Bay areas at the western end of Bras d’Or Lake.
Temporary fixes have been made, but permanent repairs will likely come with significant detours, she said.
Still, Landry said that to the best of her knowledge everybody in the county is able to be in their homes safely and have access to the road network. As well, a couple warming centres have been set up for provincial Public Works staff and private contractors.
“From the very first minute, there was a call out to contractors, and contractors were volunteering. So that’s been really striking,” said Landry.