Wild and wet day
Wind, rain pound Cape Breton coastline on Thursday
Coastal areas and regions prone to flooding were left cleaning up after a wind and rain storm blasted Cape Breton Thursday.
Charles Starzyczny of Dominion said waves pummeled the community’s boardwalk.
“Right now, there’s part of the boardwalk over by the road here, across from my place,” he said. “All the boardwalk going the other way is all destroyed ... All the gravel they pushed back up in the summertime there, they had it all nice and high with the berm, it’s all down into the creek now, she broke right through it.”
Starzyczny, who said his home is located about 1,000 feet away from the water, described the peak of the storm as scary. Waves were coming over top of the seawall, he said, although it was still intact.
“I thought I was gonna lose my home,” he said.
Starzyczny said he contacted the Department of Natural Resources to alert them to the damage done by the storm and he was also in contact with area councillor Darren Bruckschwaiger.
He said he has seen other damaging storms in the area but Thursday’s was particularly punishing.
“I think she finished the beach this time,” he said.
If action isn’t taken, Starzyczny said houses and the road itself could be in jeopardy in a future storm.
Cindy Day, meteorologist with the SaltWire Network, said the Nor’easter that blew into Cape Breton beginning Wednesday stalled off of Louisbourg, where it “spiralled for awhile” before moving off Thursday evening.
“A big part of the whole weather story that I think people were missing out on was the powerful storm surge,” Day said in an interview. “Sometimes people think it’s the same as waves, but storm surge is an increase in the water level, a rise in the water and it pounds against the coastline.”
With the wind coming from the northeast, eastern and northeastern coastlines were especially pounded, she noted.
Winds gusted as high as almost 100 kilometres an hour at the Sydney airport, Day said.
Local flooding was also reported, with rainfall totals in Sydney of 73 millimetres, 70 in Eskasoni, and 63 in Louisbourg.
Intense fall storms seem to be becoming an annual occurrence in Cape Breton and Day said, with climate change, what was once considered a one in 50 years storm can be expected to be seen more often.
“The energy is building up in the storms and should they happen to stall, which often happens between Cape Breton and Newfoundland … then Cape Breton will be hit by driving wind and heavier rain,” she said.
While people dread snow, Day noted water can be more damaging.
“Snow falls and you can shovel it and move it out of the way eventually, but water just causes so much damage in the long run,” she said.
Dist. 10 Coun. Darren Bruckschwaiger said he visited Dominion Beach multiple times throughout the day Thursday as the storm raged, and the tide seemed to reach its highest point at about 2:30 p.m. At one point, he said he saw the water splashing out onto the Gardiner Road.
“It was the highest I have ever seen it, personally,” Bruckschwaiger said. “At the end of the berm that they did several years back was where it broke right through.”
The berm did its job in protecting the beach and building, he said. There has been some work done to protect the area and the next phase was to see armour stone installed to the area of the walking bridge, he added, noting it’s essential that the area is protected. But he said the project has stalled. He credited the armour stone that is there for saving the parking lot and building.
Ensuring the road is safeguarded is particularly important, Bruckschwaiger said, noting it is a main throroughfare.
“Tourism is our mainstay so they have to do more to help us with our beaches, to protect them,” he said.
CBRM Mayor Cecil Clarke said there were many reports coming in to city hall of localized damage, including private properties, uprooted trees and coastline flooding. Municipal staff were also assessing the damage in areas including Indian Beach in North Sydney, which has undergone recent upgrades. Clarke noted that “most of it was underwater” at one point on Thursday. There were also reported of basement flooding and backups in the Wash Brook area of Sydney.
“This is an ongoing matter which we’ve been addressing and just further reiterates the need to put those plans in place that council approved and the federal government and the province have provided funding for,” Clarke said.
As nasty as the storm was, there were no reports of catastrophic damage as there was during the Thanksgiving 2016 storm, Clarke noted. However, it does demonstrate changing weather patterns which will require the municipality do more emergency management planning, he added.
As extreme weather events become more common, Starzyczny has some advice for others.
“Anybody that’s gonna build houses, don’t build it too close to the water,” he said.