Body of 52-year-old man, unidentified human remains, recovered after devastating N.S. floods
Two children and one youth still unaccounted for
The latest:
- Body of 52-year-old man found, as well as unidentified human remains, in search for four people missing after two vehicles became submerged in floodwaters. Two children and one youth remain unaccounted for.
- Nova Scotia's request for federal assistance approved.
- Provincewide state of emergency in effect.
- Evacuation order issued for campground near Mahone Bay.
- Municipality of the District of Lunenburg declares local state of emergency.
- If the power or data on your device is low, get your storm updates on text-only CBC Lite.
The body of a 52-year-old man, and unidentified human remains, have been found two days after a search began for four people – including two children, a youth and the man — when the vehicles they were in became submerged during devastating flooding in Nova Scotia.
RCMP said Monday afternoon the man's body was found in the primary search area in the municipality of West Hants at around 9 a.m. local time Monday, while the unidentified human remains were found by civilians in nearby Kings County at around 11:30 a.m.
Police said they are working with Nova Scotia's Medical Examiner's Office to identify the remains, which they can't yet confirm are connected to the original search but have good reason to believe are linked.
Two children and a youth remain unaccounted for.
"It's all hands on deck right now," said West Hants RCMP Sgt. Rob Frizzell.
Police said they are continuing to use "industrial and high-flow" pumping equipment to lower the water level in the primary search area of Brooklyn.
Search and rescue teams from West Hants, East Hants and Annapolis Valley, two police dogs and multiple helicopters, including one provided by the Department of Natural Resources, are involved in the search.
The RCMP said a pickup truck believed to have been carrying two missing children was found in a flooded field on Sunday, but no one was inside.
A second vehicle, which carried the man and the missing youth, has also been located, Frizzell said.
'A heartbreaking day for our province,' says premier
Speaking from the West Hants RCMP detachment in Windsor, Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston expressed his condolences.
"It's a heartbreaking day for our province," he said. "We can rebuild roads and bridges and buildings but we can't bring people back, and the legacy from these floods will be the incredibly tragic loss of life."
To protect the privacy of families, RCMP said they will not yet be releasing the identities of those missing or any other personal information.
Earlier Monday, the premier noted the recent natural disasters Nova Scotia has experienced — including hurricanes, wildfires and now flooding — has been exhausting for both first responders and residents.
"We have the expression 'Nova Scotia strong,' but do we have to keep proving it?" said Houston.
"Every one of those situations has required people to really step up and help their friends and neighbours and first responders — they don't wait. The phone rings, they jump and they get going."
Much of the province has been dealing with severe flooding and impassable roads after torrential downpours swept in overnight Friday and into Saturday.
A provincewide state of emergency was declared late Saturday, with West Hants, East Hants, the Halifax Regional Municipality, Lunenburg County and Queens County considered among the hardest hit areas.
Late Sunday, federal Emergency Preparedness Minister Bill Blair said he approved a request for federal assistance from the province.
Houston said the province submitted the request on Saturday night to help cover uninsurable costs.
Public Works Minister Kim Masland said Monday that 19 bridges were damaged in the floods, and six were completely destroyed.
Masland said progress is being made on repairs to roads and bridges, but it will take some time to get a full assessment of the damage given water levels are still high in some areas.
Masland said crews are working tirelessly and pointed to a "success story" in East Hants, where 400 people were stranded after the only bridge to the Atlantic Motorsport Park was washed out.
The Bridgestone Canadian Superbike Championship was set to take place on Saturday. The event was cancelled, but some crew members and drivers were already on site.
Masland said workers arrived Sunday morning and were able to build a temporary bridge overtop of the remains of the existing bridge.
"They worked until 10:30 p.m. last night in extreme heat and they were able to make that passable with a bridge structure for people to leave last night," Masland told CBC's Information Morning Nova Scotia.
She said it's too early to put a dollar amount on the damage to provincial infrastructure.
Canada Post said Monday that collection and delivery of mail is on hold in the province until the company can better evaluate safe areas for delivery. Post offices are closed for the day.
The RCMP has said the best source for the latest road conditions is 511, both by phone and online.
Halifax-area residents growing 'weary'
Halifax Regional Municipality Mayor Mike Savage noted the floods come less than two months after a wildfire ripped through 151 homes in the Hammonds Plains and Upper Tantallon areas, where many people are dealing with flooded basements.
"This continuing escalation of all the different weather events that we've had I think has certainly made people very weary," Savage told Information Morning Nova Scotia.
"It's really distressing.... My heart breaks for all those people and particularly for the families of the folks we're looking for."
Savage said it's too early to have a full picture of the damaged infrastructure in the municipality, but more than 300 work orders have come in, including for damage to roads, culverts and parks.
A map of roads blocked due to flooding in the Halifax region is available here.
Halifax Regional Fire and Emergency Deputy Chief David Meldrum said during the storm, 255 calls for service came in — everything from people trapped in buildings and cars to flood waters tripping fire alarms.
"It was more like a cab company than a fire department," said Meldrum. "A lot of risks for firefighters. The swift moving water is very dangerous for civilians and it's dangerous for us, too. It can hurt firefighters, kill firefighters."
Beach, lake closed
Sandy Lake Beach in Bedford is closed to swimming and recreational activities until further notice due to an overflowing Halifax Water wastewater pumping station adjacent to the lake.
Halifax Water said flooding caused the pump and its electrical systems to fail at the station on Farmers Dairy Lane, and wastewater is flooding directly into the lake.
Jake Fulton, a spokesperson for Halifax Water, says people in affected areas are being asked to reduce their flushing.
"That's anything that goes down the drain, your shower, your dishwasher, laundry, all of those things, they go through this system and end up in this area," he explained. "So the less you're putting down your drains, the less the environmental impact on Sandy Lake."
Halifax Water also advised residents living near Fletchers Lake north of Fall River, N.S., that the wastewater system in this area may have overflowed into Fletchers Lake during this past weekend's flooding.
People are advised against recreational activities at Fletchers Lake, including swimming and paddle boarding. The utility is also asking residents in the impacted zone shown in the map below to reduce their flushing to take pressure off the system.
At the same time, Halifax Water is also looking at repairing or replacing up to seven cross-drain tunnels under major roads across the Halifax Regional Municipality.
Those affected by flooding in the municipality can go to the comfort centre set up at the East Dartmouth Community Centre at 50 Caledonia Rd., which will remain open until further notice, the city said.
By Monday evening, only about 240 Nova Scotia Power customers were without electricity, down from a peak of around 80,000 at the height of the storm.
With files from Information Morning Nova Scotia, Maritime Noon and Britnei Bilhete
