Yarmouth region welcomes another good rainfall

Tusket, Yarmouth County, reported 99 mm of rain for Sept. 25-27

Following the latest rainfall in southwestern Nova Scotia, officials with a couple of local emergency measures organizations said initiatives to help people affected by this year’s drought would remain in place, at least for now, although things are improving.

“I’ve talked to quite a few people and the wells are coming up, slowly,” said Janine Muise, EMO co-ordinator for the Municipality of Argyle in Yarmouth County, which, for the second straight week, received some significant rain.

Tusket reportedly got 99 mm between Tuesday, Sept. 25, and Thursday, Sept. 27, and Wedgeport got 89 mm for the same period.

Other precipitation totals in the tri-county region for Sept. 25-27 included 75 mm in Yarmouth, 43 mm in Port Maitland, 42 mm in Shelburne, 15 mm in Digby.

Contacted on the morning of Friday, Sept. 28, Muise said the Municipality of Argyle was continuing its efforts to help those impacted by this year’s extended period of dry weather, including the distribution of drinking water.

“Everything is still in place,” she said. “We haven’t stopped anything. We’ll keep it in place for a little while just to make sure.”

The province had just delivered another shipment of drinking water for the area, which would be divided among the municipalities of Argyle, Barrington and Yarmouth. The water was being stored at the Mariners Centre.

For people whose wells are coming back up – particularly those whose wells went dry – Muise said it might be a good idea to have the wells tested, just to be safe.

On social media, many people were saying this most recent welcome rainfall helped their wells quite a bit.

In the neighbouring Municipality of Barrington, EMO coordinator David Kendrick said the latest rain would help, although he said the Barrington area had received less precipitation than Yarmouth County.

Still, he said, even before the latest rain, there were signs the situation was getting better, given local fire departments had delivered less water to people and Barrington’s arena had seen fewer people coming to use its shower facilities.

“After this rain, I think there’ll be more (improvement),” Kendrick said.

The municipalities of Argyle and Barrington have been among the areas hit hardest by this year’s dry spell, as they were by the drought of 2016.

Are dry summers going to be more common, as some have suggested? Muise said officials have to consider this possibility and prepare for it.

“I think the municipality has to really look at – and that’s what we’re going to be doing – what things can be put in place, long-term,” she said. “This has happened twice in three years.”

And more residents seem to be taking action too, she said, noting that there has been growing interest in a municipal program to help people upgrade their wells.

‘There’s been a lot of people investigating that (program) to dig new wells or dig their existing wells deeper,” she said.