‘We dodged another bullet’
There was damage from last week’s storm, but not as much as had been expected
While the Jan. 4 winter storm that pummelled Nova Scotia packed quite a punch, it was nowhere near what was anticipated.
“We dodged another bullet,” said Dick Crowell, spokesman for Western Shelburne County EMO. “That storm was huge.”
Crowell, who is also an experienced weather watcher, said what happened was when the storm reached the colder waters of the North Atlantic it began to transition and the center began to open up.
“When they open up the winds gets less and that’s what happened just before it got up here. The winds instead of being 140 km were down more like 100 and that was good enough for us so Mother Nature tossed us a lifeline.“
While there was some damage from the storm, “we didn’t suffer as much damage as was expected,” said Crowell.
Examples of some damage included a boat moored on the eastern side of the Cape Sable Island Causeway that sank. The old Prospect Point wharf in Shag Harbour broke apart. Siding and shingles were ripped from a number of buildings, including the Barrington Ground Search and Rescue building and R. I. Fisheries in Shag Harbour. There were also fallen trees and power outages.
As for the storm surge, Crowell said we were “very lucky.”
“If it had gone any higher it would have topped the wharves,” he said. “It came pretty close to breaching the wharves” as well as low- laying coastal roads in the area.
“What we had was wave wash,” said Crowell, which tossed lots of seaweed and debris high up on the banks and onto roadways throughout the Municipality of Barrington. “All in all we faired out fairly well.”
In Shelburne, Dock Street took the brunt of the storm for damage said Shelburne County East EMO Coordinator ( SCEEMO) Mike Shand. The Town of Shelburne wharf on Dock Street sustained substantial damage, and parts of the sidewalk were washed away.
“The storm surge was the highest surge I’ve ever seen,” said Shand. “It breached Dock Street about an hour before actual high tide. Once and awhile the water does breach the area but not to that extent. The waters did recede fairly quickly after they came up so that was a help too.”
The Shelburne Community Center on King Street, which is also home to the Shelburne Fire Department, also sustained major roof damage in the storm. The extent of the damage to the community center as well as the Town wharf is still being investigated.
Shand said initial contact with officials from the Town of Lockeport and the Municipality of Shelburne indicates there wasn’t too much to report damage- wise.
“It seems to me we had more damage from the previous storm ( Dec. 25) than this one. This one had a bit more water damage I think but as for the wind we faired out a bit better than the last storm.”