Section of East Hants highway washed out less than 24 hours after reopening

A section of highway in East Hants that reopened on Friday after weeks of repairs was closed less than 24 hours later after torrential rains on Saturday caused new damage.

The highway section in South Maitland near the intersection with Highway 236 was undergoing repairs after extensive damage caused by historic flooding in July.

Work was not completely finished and the road had not been paved when It was opened on Friday night for the long weekend.

Lisa Thiel lives in the area and said she was excited by the reopening that saved her a lengthy detour driving to work in Colchester County.

But her excitement didn't last long.

"With the washout the way it was the past two weeks, we've had to commute around an hour one way to get to work," Thiel said.

"And it literally was open one night and this rainfall happened and now it's washed out again."

Thiel said she also has a small farm and has had to postpone meat and egg deliveries to nearby customers.

According to Thiel, repair crews had filled a massive hole in the road caused by the previous flood, but did not address the root of the problem — a blocked culvert.

Because water is not able to drain through the culvert, she said, it builds up and washes over the road.

Andrew Wilson said he's only lived in the area for a year and has seen the road washed out twice.

Like Thiel, Wilson believes the underlying cause of the drainage problem has not been addressed.

"They just put gravel down and then let us drive on top of it and they basically haven't fixed it," Wilson said.

"I don't think it was fixed enough to open the road, personally. They should have waited until it was fixed to allow us to actually use this properly rather than have it be open for 24 hours and wash out again."

Wilson's neighbour, Kelly Finnigan, said seeing the road washed out twice has been stressful.

Finnigan's property was flooded. She said she and another neighbour used his tractor to clear rocks out of her driveway so her vehicles could get in and out.

Hants East MLA John A. MacDonald said although the road was reopened on Friday, more work was scheduled that included addressing the culvert.

MacDonald said the province's priority is always to get major roads open as quickly as possible. 

"These contractors are professionals. They know how to build roads.... I don't believe anybody expected for us to get another 60-70 millimetres of rain again."

"Once all the upgrades are done that are needed, I would hope that this place is not going to have this issue anymore. I fully trust Public Works and the contractors will get it done properly."

Finnigan said she believes the culvert issue should have been addressed before other road repairs were done.

"It's kind of like putting the cart before the horse," she said. 

"They know they're going to have to tear this up again anyway. If it were me, I think I would have addressed the culvert first and then fixed the road."

MacDonald said some homes in the area had their road access washed away during the flooding. He said crews were at work Sunday to restore access.

He said he was not aware of any new people displaced over the weekend. He said some people were still in the process of recovering from July's flooding.

Thiel said the recent flooding and her experience during post-tropical storm Fiona, when she was without power for 12 days, has left her wondering if some communities aren't a priority for government.

"It's scary," she said. "And I feel like we're not as cared about in this area as more populated areas are."

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