Sussex New Brunswick, again copes with major flooding, evacuations, street closures

'It's hard to stay positive,' Mayor Marc Thorne says after latest round with high water

CBC News · Posted: Feb 29, 2024 9:27 AM AST | Last Updated: 24 minutes ago

Flooding in Sussex from a day-long rainstorm has closed at least 12 roads, forced 24 people out of their homes, and evoked comparisons with one of the worst floods ever to hit the town.

"It's a devastating experience when it happens and it's happening quite frequently here," Scott Hatcher, the southern New Brunswick town's chief administrative officer, told Information Morning Saint John.

An emergency operations centre was mobilized on Wednesday night in the town of more than 5,700.

On Thursday morning, the precipitation had started to switch to snow. 

A warming centre is open at 1067 Main St.

By late morning, water levels had decreased significantly, and neighbours in the flooded areas were out and about with their sump pumps. Some roads reopened, but there were still dangerous washouts on others.

The Town of Sussex posted an update on Facebook that dumpsters would be placed on affected streets for residents to dispose of any household items ruined by the flood.

Sussex resident Luke Belyea said he woke up Thursday to snow coming down and a flash freeze on the horizon.

But knowing how much rain fell the day before and overnight, he ventured closer to the downtown to check on his place of work, the Sussex Armouries.

"The flooding had already taken over the road down in front of the rink, all around the Armouries and all around Tim Hortons," he said.

Without being able to get any closer but still wanting to check on his work building, Belyea, who takes photographs as a hobby, flew his drone over the area.

Hatcher said that despite barricades, people have been trying to drive on closed streets. He said he understands some people may want an up-close look at the flooding, but they are just causing more damage by creating waves.

The Sussex area has suffered a lot of flooding over the years, and this latest event brought comparisons with a major flood in April 2014. Hatcher said there was significant rain before the 2014 flood as well, but this storm met or exceeded that amount of water.

More than 200 millimetres fell this time, and many residents experienced property damage, he said.

Belyea said the flooding that he captured on his drone was similar to what was experienced during the flood of 2014. The only difference, he said, are the dropping temperatures, which he worries will cause even more damage to people's homes when the water freezes. 

Sussex Mayor Marc Thorne remembers the 2014 flood well. He recalls the four days after when he walked through  neighbourhoods and talked to residents who were piling their ruined belongings onto the street.

"They were absolutely emotionally devastated," he said.

As of Thursday morning, he hadn't gone out to the neighbourhoods yet, but he planned too. Thorne said he worries about the extent of this flood's damage.

After 2014, Thorne said the town had some designs done to see what could be done for flood mitigation. He said a $1.2 million berm was created for the west side of the community. 

Thorne said the town also applied for $15 million from the federal government for a $38 million project that he said is "critical to the survival in our community."

"When you're looking around our community like I am right now, it's hard, it's hard to stay positive," he said. "And the storms … they're kind of increasing their frequency and intensity."