'These are really hard things to process,' N.S. premier says about youth's death in flash flood
CBC News | Posted: July 12, 2024 3:48 PM | Last Updated: July 12
Name, age and gender of youth who died Thursday in Wolfville have not been released
A youth playing with friends at a Wolfville, N.S., park died Thursday when he was swept into a water-filled ditch during a flash flood that tore up roads and destroyed at least one bridge in the province.
The youth disappeared under the rushing water around 7:40 p.m. AT at Tower Community Park on Highland Avenue, said RCMP Staff Sgt. Ed Nugent during a news conference Friday in Wolfville. The town is located around 100 kilometres northwest of Halifax.
Police did not disclose the victim's name, age or gender.
RCMP said the water drainage system in the area was diverted as part of the search effort, and the youth's body was found around 11:30 p.m. local time. It's unclear where the body was found.
Nugent said the search was complicated by the heavy rain, high water levels and eventual darkness.
He said he wasn't aware of any other search and rescue operations in the area due to the flood.
WATCH | Officials comment on fatal flood
At the news conference, Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston called it a devastating day for the province and said all Nova Scotians grieve with the victim's family.
"These are really hard things to process," he said.
In a news release issued earlier in the day, Houston said he was "heartbroken at the news that a youth in Wolfville lost his life as a result of flash flooding."
Houston told the news conference the province has been dealing with a lot of trauma in recent years, including last summer's wildfires, as well as historic flooding one year ago that left four people dead.
"Those emotions are certainly magnified with the loss of the youth today," he said.
Houston said there's tremendous infrastructure damage throughout the province. He said around 30 roads remain closed because of flood damage, but as many as 35 were closed Thursday night.
An emergency alert warning of flash flooding was issued for Digby, Annapolis, Kings and Hants counties Thursday evening as remnants of post-tropical storm Beryl swept through the western part of the province. The province issued the alert at 8:30 p.m. AT.
Kentville received 90.4 millimetres of rain Thursday, according to CBC meteorologist Trevor Adams, with 69 millimetres recorded in Truro. Smaller amounts were reported in Chéticamp and Port Hawkesbury, where 30.9 millimetres and 26.1 millimetres fell respectively.
Michael Gardiner, the farm manager at Hennigar's Farm Market in Wolfville, said Thursday's storm was the worst he's seen.
Gardiner said while he's seen more rain fall before, it was how quickly it came down that was different, and how that caused flash flooding.
"It was literally, like, a blink of an eye," said Gardiner.
He said they opened up both ends of the market to allow the water to run through the store.
Gardiner said a crew was on-site Friday cleaning up the mess.
"Everything's destroyed," he said. "There's mud everywhere. It's quite bad."
There's an outdoor part of the business that's home to an animal park. Gardiner said the goat pen was filled with almost a metre of water and he had to carry them out.
In Halls Harbour, a popular tourist destination in the Annapolis Valley, floodwaters tore through a small causeway and sluice gates, knocking down the West Halls Harbour Road bridge.
Coun. Dick Killam told CBC Radio's Maritime Noon the torrent of water "appeared like Niagara Falls."
"It was very violent," he said.
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