'Beyond exhausted': Windsor residents await fixes to frequent flooding, sewage overflow

As widespread flooding swept through Nova Scotia's Valley region on Thursday evening, two words were top of mind for residents of a flood-prone street in Windsor: Not again.

It takes only about 15 minutes of heavy rainfall for brown-coloured water, tainted with sewage, to start spewing out of catch basins, flooding Stannus Street and overflowing onto residential properties. 

While trying to mitigate damage from Thursday's overnight flood, Jennifer Moore slipped face-first into the contaminated water.

"I'm going to go get a tetanus shot," Moore said on Friday morning. "I feel nauseous, my eyes are itchy, [I have a] massive headache, and it was terrifying to fall into that." 

Residents are running out of patience waiting for a solution to the town's overburdened combined sewer and stormwater system. 

"We're just beyond exhausted. It's actually just numbing. I don't even know how to feel anything right now. It's completely overwhelming," said Moore. 

Moore and her Stannus Street neighbours, Alicia Hennessey and Amanda Dunfield, say the repeated flooding has taken over their lives to an extent. They attend council meetings, write letters advocating for change and run a Facebook page where they keep tabs on rainfall warnings and combined sewer overflows, which happen when the combination of sewage and stormwater exceeds the capacity of the system. 

"We're safe, but the long-lasting effects on our health, we don't know," said Hennessey, who carried her young boys through the flowing water to safety on Thursday night. "I got little kids. I don't want to expose them to this." 

In December, West Hants Regional Municipality received a report by CBCL Engineering, a Halifax-based consultancy firm. The municipality had hired the firm about two years earlier to assess the situation and identify several short- and long-term solutions. 

West Hants Mayor Abraham Zebian told CBC on Wednesday, the day before this week's flood, that estimates to separate and rework the existing combined sewer system could put the cost over $200 million. 

The municipality will require help from all levels of government to foot the bill. 

Zebian said council commissioned CBCL to conduct a second phase of its study to provide more concrete steps and recommendations on how the municipality should move forward. He hopes it will be ready sometime this fall. 

"The residents are frustrated. As an elected official, you feel helpless sometimes," said Zebian. "It's hard on us as well because we want to give that help, yesterday." 

Dunfield, who has spent tens of thousands of dollars repairing flood damage to her house and property, understands a fix won't happen overnight, but she said she wants to see more tangible short-term help from the municipality.

Council recently passed a motion to close off Stannus Street during heavy rainfall to prevent cars from driving through and splashing the contaminated water onto nearby properties, but Dunfield said the closures often don't happen quickly enough.

The municipality has also promised to post signs alerting the public of combined sewer overflows. 

Victoria Park on Stannus Street was closed due to Thursday's flooding, but as of Friday afternoon, nothing had been posted warning of possible contaminants.

"People have been walking in the park with their dogs, with their children. I saw a lady slip and fall into the material," said Dunfield. 

When asked about the signage, Zebian said he would check in with staff. 

In addition to commitments to close streets and post signs, Zebian said the municipality has also purchased a street sweeper, directed staff to clean out catch basins and created a Home Flood Protection Program. 

The program would give affected homeowners access to up to $30,000 to spend on flood-proofing their properties. 

But Moore, Hennessey and Dunfield say it's no help to them. They've each already spent thousands on pumps, hoses, sandbags, drainage systems and generators to try to keep the water away.

At a committee of the whole meeting on Tuesday evening, council directed staff to prepare a report outlining what a no-fault sewer credit might look like for residents impacted by overflow events. 

The credit, which would be retroactive to July 2021, would equal but not exceed a resident's annual sewer charges, which amount to an average of $528 per year, according to a report by Coun. Jim Ivey. 

Stannus Street residents think the credit is a no-brainer. 

"We pay a sewer tax for a broken system that is costing us money. We pay a sewer tax and then we pay for the [sewage] coming up onto our property," Moore said Wednesday. 

Also at the committee meeting was talk of what a buyout program could look like. 

Councillors Ivey and Laurie Murley were tasked with speaking to residents about their thoughts on a possible buyout option before the next council meeting in two weeks. 

While the idea of leaving her home saddens Hennessey, the thought of dealing with the flooding for years to come is worse. 

"As long as we could have what we have now somewhere else, then 100 per cent we'd take a buyout," said Hennessey.

Moore said she'd take a buyout, but only at fair market value. 

Dunfield said she'd leave too. 

"No one here wants to leave their home. I don't think any of us even have the wherewithal right now to pack and move," she said. "I talked about just abandoning everything. Honestly that has crossed my mind.

"I don't think we can do this anymore. Not emotionally, not financially, not for our health."