Southeastern communities hit by spring flooding

Pointe-du-Chne and Dorchester are among the southeastern communities that are dealing with spring flooding.

The heavy snow left over from the winter combined with rain and warm temperatures have caused flood concerns and warnings in many parts of New Brunswick.

But Florence MacFarland is already dealing with rising water levels.

MacFarland's house in Pointe-du-Chne is surrounded by water and inside her home, the water is creeping up to within centimetres of her floor.

I've been pumping water out of the crawl space since Tuesday.It just doesn't stop my whole house is surrounded by water, she said.

MacFarlane has been living here for 33 years and she said it's the first time the street has flooded.

She said some neighbours filled in the ditches to expand their properties where the water used to drain to the ocean.

The people infill the ditches down here. The government doesn't do anything or nobody takes responsibility for it, she said.

A government official told CBC News the road is private and is not its responsibility to maintain.

Luc Dumont, a neighbour of MacFarlands, said the larger problem is that Pointe-du-Chne is a local service district and decisions affecting the communityare made in Fredericton, by the minister of Local Government.

He's got 70 local service districts. He's the mayor of the local service districts, he probably doesn't know where half of them are and he sure as hell hasn't visited them, Dumont said.

Meanwhile, in Dorchester, the provincial government says a section of Highway 106 will be closed until May 1.

A CN culvert has clogged and created a lake in the area. The company is trying to pump out the water, butin the meantimearea residents will have to find a detour.

Flood risk warning

The provinces Emergency Measures Organization issued its latest River Watch update on Friday afternoon and warned about possible localized flooding along various river systems.

The localized floods could be a result of ice jams, which have been in place for months, holding back water.

The ice jams are located at:

Nashwaak River: at MacLaggan Bridge, Tay Bridge, Durham Bridge and Marysville Bridge
Southwest Miramichi River: below the Doaktown Bridge and at Norrad's Bridge in Upper Miramichi.

There are also flooding concerns in the Kennebecasis River system. Several ice jams have formed in the last day. However, these ice jams are not holding back water at this point.

Hammond River between the Route 860 and Lakeside Road intersection to one kilometre above the French Village Covered Bridge or Highway 1.
Hammond River at Route 100
Smith Creek River near the Oldfield Road.

The River Watch alert also indicated water levels on the Nashwaak River remain a concern even though levels are not currently forecasted to reach flood stage.

The provincial government is warning that if ice movement happens and jams occur, that could cause flooding.