Youth killed in floodwaters in western N.S., 1 year after major flooding in same area

WOLFVILLE, N.S. — A young person died after being swept away by floodwaters in western Nova Scotia Thursday, compounding grief in a region still recovering from flooding a year ago that killed four people and caused extensive damage.

At a sombre news conference in Wolfville, N.S., Friday, the town where the young person died, Premier Tim Houston said the heavy rains and flooding had cased “tremendous infrastructure damage” throughout the Annapolis Valley.

“That will be rebuilt,” Houston told reporters. “But none of that will replace this loss of a young life.”

From floods, to wildfires, to massive snowstorms, Nova Scotia has been dealing with ever-increasing episodes of extreme, damaging and fatal weather events, Houston acknowledged. “We’re experiencing a lot of trauma as a province.”

The tail end of hurricane Beryl brought “several hours of torrential downpours” to parts of western and central Nova Scotia on Thursday, wreaking havoc on an area stretching from Digby to Guysborough, Environment Canada said. More than 100 millimetres of rain fell in just a few hours in some communities, including Wolfville.

RCMP said the young person was playing in a park with three friends when the flooding began on Thursday night. Police received a call around 7:30 p.m. about a youth who had been pulled into a water-filled ditch, and then disappeared under the rushing water. A massive search began involving the Mounties, the local fire department, members of three search and rescue teams and even people at Acadia University, officials said at the news conference.

The youth’s body was found a few hours later, after the water drainage system in the area was diverted during the search.

“In flash flood situations, as we’ve seen over the last year or so … conditions can change very quickly in heavy rain,” RCMP Staff Sgt. Ed Nugent told reporters.

Police are not releasing the youth’s name, nor any identifying details.

In July last year, four people died — including two young children — in floods in the nearby municipality of West Hants after 250 mm of rain fell over 24 hours.

“The weather events in our communities that we experienced this year and last year, and a few years ago, are beyond anything that I think most of us have ever experienced before,” said Wolfville Mayor Wendy Donovan. “Responding to them will take all of us, as we anticipate and respond to this new normal.”

Chad Schrader, deputy chief of the Wolfville Fire Department, said in an interview after Friday’s news conference that it was frustrating to witness how many people were outdoors and driving in a torrential downpour, despite social media warnings to stay inside.

“The activity on the streets last night was significant … people are turning (the storms) into a spectacle, and we need to take them seriously,” said Schrader, who was among the first responders who rushed to the scene on Thursday evening.

Houston said the heavy rains shut down roughly 35 roads on Thursday night, and on Friday afternoon about 30 were still closed. During the fewer than three years he’s been premier, he said, the province has set up its co-ordination centre to respond to weather emergencies seven times. In the decade before his election, it was set up “once or twice,” Houston said.

In Halls Harbour, N.S., about 30 kilometres northwest of Wolfville, pictures posted to social media showed part of West Halls Harbour Road had collapsed into the sea. The road appeared to be split in two and impassable.

Kings County Coun. Dick Killam said he noticed at around 11:30 p.m. Thursday that a lagoon on the other side of that road had begun to overflow and spill onto the asphalt and onto a newly installed boardwalk. Two hours later, the boardwalk was destroyed, he said.

Brett Tetanish, chief of the Brooklyn, N.S., volunteer fire department, said some roads in the West Hants Regional Municipality were completely submerged. Many people had flooded basements, he said.

Tetanish said his crew assisted the Hantsport volunteer fire department as they rescued three people whose home was cut off from the road by floodwaters. The fire chief said many people in the communities are reliving the anxiety and grief wrought by last year’s floods.

“I think everyone still thinks about the floods last summer …. That plays on your mind,” he said.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 12, 2024.

— With files from Cassidy McMackon in Halifax

Michael Tutton, The Canadian Press