Climate change committee hears coastal properties at risk

New Brunswick coastal communities may have to let go of some of their most cherished waterfront properties in the face of violent storms and rising sea levels, MLAs were told Wednesday.

"We are headed for difficult times," former Saint Andrews mayor Stan Choptiany told the province's select committee on climate change during a second day of hearings in Saint John.

 Choptiany and current Mayor Doug Naish told committee members Saint Andrews has been experiencing severe storm surge events and damage can only be expected to worsen in the years ahead.

"We've seen a number of things change and change dramatically," said Choptiany.

"Is there times where you have to abandon certain parts of your community because its too expensive to try and keep saving it and saving it and saving it."

Weather events batter Saint Andrews

Choptiany took the committee through a number of weather events that have battered the town in recent years, beginning with a Nov. 5, 2010 storm that ripped apart a large sea wall, overran the town wharf and flooded the downtown with salt water.

"Nov. 5 was really an eye opener for us," said Choptiany. "There was water and seaweed on the roofs of two-storey buildings."

The town experienced a similar storm surge this past spring that ravaged its popular waterfront campground and once again overran the wharf. Still, Naisch said it is a struggle to convince locals they are facing a crisis.

I always run into people who think that this is just a cyclical thing in the weather and this is going to pass and this is not real.- Doug Naish, Saint Andrews mayor

"I always run into people who think that this is just a cyclical thing in the weather and this is going to pass and this is not real, it is some sort of invention of the science community," said Naisch.

"Even those people whose houses had seaweed on them in 2010, if you went there today the house looks fine and most of those people don't want to move and are happy that they paid way too much money for a waterfront lot even if it might get flooded again," he said. "Because when it gets flooded again you can apply for a provincial relief program to repair the damage."

• Saint Andrews reeling from high winds, storm surge damage

Saint Andrews recently partnered with the Huntsman Marine Science Centre to model the effect of rising sea levels on the town and the results were alarming. The community's popular wharf and campground are especially vulnerable with storm surges likely to reach deeper and deeper into the the town as the years pass.

"Within nine years we're talking about the wharf being underwater every high tide during every storm, said Choptiany. "And that's pretty hard to land a whale watching boat when the wharf is under water."

'Hundreds of millions' in costs

Naisch and Choptiany both acknowledged that combating rising sea levels in the town could cost "hundreds of millions" and would have to involve federal and provincial help. But they also called on the province to get tough on prohibiting development in flood-prone areas and to give municipalities more powers to remove buildings in dangerous areas.

Naish said the province should also look at shifting funds from flood compensation — especially for those who build in flood-prone areas — to flood prevention.

"It's much like veteran sailor saying I can beat the hurricane to Bermuda but when they get halfway there we have to go rescue them at our taxpayer cost."

Committee member Wilfred Roussel, the MLA for Shippagan-Lameque-Miscou, said other coastal communities, including his own, have seen the same kinds of storm damage and are facing the exact same problems as Saint Andrews.

"I just want you to know I am fully aware of what you're talking about and I think we'll consider this for sure," said Roussel.