'We're just doing our best': N.B. residents prepare for rising water levels

As water levels on the St. John River continue to rise, residents are working to keep the floodwaters from reaching their homes.

After last year's flooding, many are better prepared.

With 100 sandbags in place, Matthew Sherwood is hoping he can save his newly built garage and furnished basement. There were three-and-a-half feet of water in it during the 2018 flood, causing extensive damage.

It was the first time his family home on Portobello Drive in Maugerville had flooded in the 39 years they lived there.

But Sherwood said after rebuilding from last year's flood, it's hard to watch the waters creep towards their home again. 

"We're just doing our best and getting our stuff up high and it's all we can do." 

But he said he's thankful that there was more time to prepare this year.

"We had enough time to get the sandbags and get our stuff up onto the decks and stuff downstairs, upstairs. Yeah, we had a lot more time this year."

Stressful weekend

Adam Carter said he's had a stressful weekend trying to help his son, who had flood damage last year at his home on Alderwood Drive in Fredericton.

"It was the first year for that and he wasn't prepared so he lost a lot of stuff and had quite a bit of damage."

To avoid a repeat, Carter said they removed the carpets and trim from the basement floors and moved many items to higher floors.

"We set up three pumps for pumping the water out because I know it's going to get a lot worse than this. This isn't the end." 

Meanwhile, on Timber Lane in Fredericton, Hal Greer said he spent the weekend patiently waiting for the floodwaters to rise. "It's not as bad as it was last year, but they say it's going to go up a little bit." 

But Greer said he is prepared and has moved his property to avoid it being damaged. He has no plans to evacuate and will use a small boat he owns to get back and forth if necessary.

After being flooded in 2008, Greer raised his house and wasn't flooded again until last year. 

"It was 10 years to that week that we got flooded and now the following year, we're flooded again." 

Rick Starr was hopeful his Fredericton home was going to be OK but said everything changed within an hour Saturday night. 

"We weren't even aware of it. We just happened to go online and saw that the river had come up dramatically and we looked out back and there it was, just everywhere." 

Here's a list of essentials for your flood kit

6 years ago

Duration 0:47

EMO's Geoffrey Downey lists what a 72-hour flood kit should contain and why.

But even though there was water in the basement, Starr said he learned from last year's flood and the family won't lose anything this time. 

"Everybody has to take responsibility," he said. "Once you learn once you should do whatever you can so you're not going to the help from the province again unless it's absolutely necessary."

Starr said any help they received was used to floodproof his home because he thinks the flooding will continue to happen each year. 

"How can it not? The weather is changing in this part of the world." 

With her house surrounded by water, Moira Watson said it's a guessing game every year what will happen. 

"We have no measure or guide to know what's going to happen. There's a lot of guessing on when it will peak and when it will go down."  

Water levels in Fredericton are expected to remain relatively stable in the range of 8.0-8.1 metres over the next two days and then start to drop.