UPDATED: Flood Cleanup Begins In Sussex Area

The flooding danger has passed in the Sussex area but now the cleanup and damage assessment process has begun.

Trout Creek and the Kennebecasis River overflowed Tuesday night after torrential rain fell over the region.

Water levels in the area peaked early Wednesday morning and have been slowly receding since then.

Marc Thorne, the mayor of Sussex, said the damage is similar to that caused by the spring flood of 2014.

“Many of the folks that live in the areas believe that it was a little bit worse than 2014,” Thorne said Wednesday morning. “Many people now are still trying to get the water out of their basements.”

At least 22 families in Sussex were forced from their homes Tuesday night and spent the night in temporary shelters. The Canadian Red Cross said Wednesday morning that it is helping 16 people from 11 homes.

Thorne said the flooding also caused a lot of damage to town infrastructure, noting that Holman Avenue was “completely blown apart.”

Several streets remained closed as of noon Wednesday, including:

• McLean Street
• Pine Street
• Wallace Court
• Arnold Avenue
• The lower section of Willow Court
• Holman Avenue
• Stewart Avenue from Maple Avenue to the entrance of Barbours Foods
• Mills Lane
• Maxwell Drive at the intersection of Pine Street
• Maple Avenue
• Leonard Drive
• King Street
• Birch Street
• Perry Street

Thorne said it is too early to know how many homes have been damaged and what the total repair cost will be.

“I do know that 2014, we had roughly $18 million of damage done in the region,” he said. “Perhaps this will be a similar amount.”

The New Brunswick Emergency Measures Organization is working to assess the damage caused by this week’s heavy rainfall.

Spokesperson Geoffrey Downey said Sussex appears to have been the hardest hit, with reports of there being feet of water in some people’s homes.

Downey said a number of roads are closed throughout the province due to flooding or washouts.

“We’re encouraging people to look ahead, plan ahead,” he said. “If they have to get out and get anywhere, don’t assume that road is gonna be open.”

Downey said NBEMO has received several reports of “disaster tourism,” which involves people driving through flooded areas to take pictures.

He said they are asking people not to do this for their own safety and to avoid causing more damage.

“It’s not just sometimes people just parking by the side of the road and taking pictures, they’ll foolishly actually drive through water, and they really shouldn’t. You never know with erosion that road you’ve driven over a thousand times before might have some significant holes in it.”

Meanwhile, Thorne said residents will have a rough haul ahead of them as they begin to clean up the mess.

“I’m very concerned about people’s emotional well-being,” said Thorne. “It’s very damaging to experience a flood and have your possessions destroyed and that concerns me greatly.”

Thorne said the town will do what it can to try and ease that burden, such as providing dumpsters in the affected neighbourhoods.