After repeated flooding, Elmsdale residents and businesses look for answers

Chris Ainsworth is looking for answers after weathering three basement floods in his Elmsdale, N.S., home since he moved in about a decade ago.

"It was an inch of water, but it did $30,000 worth of damage. The time before that, there was about three and a half inches of water, and that was about $50,000," said Ainsworth, standing in his basement as it undergoes repairs. 

While he already had a sump pump in place, after the most recent flood in February, he added a backflow valve.

Neighbours in the Elmwood subdivision are doing similar work, partly because they're unclear what the municipality, province or other landowners in the area can do to address the recurring flooding there. 

The Municipality of East Hants is aware of the issue. Its climate plan, drafted in 2013, highlights that storm drainage problems will only increase with climate change. 

Province aware of concerns

At a meeting of the municipality's executive council earlier this month, Elmwood was highlighted as an area to potentially study flood mitigation. 

"It doesn't mean that there would be municipal things that we could do," said Jesse Hulsman, director of infrastructure and planning for the municipality, at the meeting. 

But East Hants could advocate for landowners to address issues contributing to flooding, he added. 

John A. MacDonald, the local MLA, said the province has tried to improve drainage in the subdivision. He said local councillors have raised concerns about flooding along Highway 2, which is adjacent to the Shubenacadie River and CN Rail tracks. 

"It's the cost of it, and it's the unknown" of how to address the problem effectively, MacDonald said. 

In a statement, CN Rail said culverts in the area are performing as required.

The Department of Public Works also said in a statement that an inspection was conducted after February's flooding, and no issues were identified with culverts or ditches in the subdivision.

"There have been instances of localized flooding in the Elmsdale area as a result of the tidally influenced Shubenacadie River," said Gary Andrea, a spokesperson for Public Works. "This occurs when heavy rains coupled with high tides prevent run-off from draining away. While this is a known issue, it is not caused by highway infrastructure."

Risk from high tide, heavy rain 

As water levels rose in the area during last July's record rainstorm, Tina Ross used vinyl from the design and print shop she owns to seal the business's doors shut. Still, it wasn't enough to keep water from ruining flooring, drywall and other material that couldn't be moved to higher ground. 

"It's an indicator of how desperate we are as retail stores, businesses in East Hants," Ross said. "There's nowhere to go so bad that we would stay in a known flood zone."

Ross said she would like to see more attention paid to the size of culverts in the area, one of which is located under a lumberyard.

"It's a very emotional thing, when someone's house is filling with water and everybody is looking for a place to lay the blame," said Mark Wilber, who is vice-president of the Elmsdale Lumber Company. "Unfortunately, this isn't the place." 

The lumberyard, which was affected by July's flooding, has a culvert that's four feet wide under the property, allowing water to flow from the subdivision to a provincial culvert below Highway 2. 

"It's dammed up with a lot of debris on the discharge end of the culvert under the number 2 highway," Wilber said. "It only takes a quick glance to realize that there's some work to be done there." 

Elmwood resident Leslie Guy said she spent thousands of dollars to prevent flooding after her property was affected by the July storm.

"I've just mitigated the situation so that unless there was, you know, sort of Noah's Ark flooding, I should be OK," she said. 

Guy said that's a luxury not everyone can afford. 

"I am sure that we will have more events like this because I do believe that our world is changing. This is a very, very small part of it, but I think you have to be proactive."