Charlotte County flood study needed, mayor says

St. Stephen Mayor John Quartermain is seeking help from the provincial government to find a way to develop a plan to avoid future flood damage in the southwestern town.

Residents and businesses in Charlotte County were still cleaning up on Monday following a record rainfall over the weekend. It is estimated that 165 millimetres fell in St. Stephen on Friday and Saturday.

After the second once-in-100-year flood in less than three years, Quartermain said its time to look at a better way to be prepared for this kind of rainfall.

Quartermain said on Monday he plans on reaching out to Environment Minister Bruce Fitch to come up with a plan to avoid future flood damage in his town.

"I'm going to send a letter to a couple of ministers, provincial government ministers, just to see if we can have some support in doing a study on what we can do to lessen the impact of that, whether it be dredging some brooks that feed into the river because the restrictive flow of the water in the brooks definitely had an impact on having water going back into people's basements or houses," he said.

Several communities in southwestern New Brunswick had to deal with extensive flood damage in December 2010.

At the time, Premier David Alward described the damage as "beyond imagination."

Liberal MLA Rick Doucet called for the provincial government to study flooding in the area in 2012, but such a report was never commissioned.

Doucet said on Tuesday Quartermains request is important and he said his suggestions reflect a good understanding of the local area.

"We cant change the weather but perhaps we can change how we move the water," Doucet said in an interview.

The Liberal MLA said it will be important to speak with engineers and hydrologists to make sure any changes are "grounded in good science."

By comparison, the provincial government announced plans to study the cause of the record flood that hit Perth-Andover in March 2012 and look for ways to prevent future flooding.

Flood repairs

The southwestern New Brunswick rain storm caused damage to 21 sections along NB Southern Rail. The repairs are expected to cost well over $100,000.

It isnt just businesses that are dealing with effects of the summer flood.

Joan Jones came home Monday morning to more than one metre of water in her basement.

Jones will need to fix her furnace but other than that she said she got off lucky.

"Some people have lost a lot more than we have, so you know it's very serious to lose a lot of your finished basement and your furniture," she said.

"It's only a furnace. We can deal with that."

Sean Horton, the local fire chief and emergency measures organization representative for St. George, said the rain storm caught people off guard.

"A lot of people were in shock that in the middle of July we're getting that much rain," he said.