Sackville prepares for Fiona
Hurricane Fiona has prompted a wave of cancellations and postponements as people prepare for high winds and heavy rain starting late Friday night and continuing through Saturday.
CHMA called up town of Sackville special projects manager Kieran Miller to find out what advice and information the town has to share:
Miller recommends people, “secure any loose objects on your property, clean up any downspouts and make sure that you have a 72 hour emergency preparedness kit on hand.”
She also recommends people sign up for the town’s new alert system, Voyent Alert.
“We hope never to have to use our emergency alert system, says Miller, “but we recommend all residents sign up.” Voyent Alert allows people to chose between alerts delivered via phone call, email, text, or through a smartphone app.
Sackville is prone to freshwater flooding, especially when high tides prevent freshwater from draining through existing aboiteaux into the tidal Tantramar River. High tides at about 11:15pm Friday night and 11:40am Saturday could be critical times for flooding risk, depending on when the heaviest rainfall arrives.
Miller says the town’s public works staff are, “in a state of readiness. They’re getting everything ready to go should they need to take action.”
In case of an extended power outage, the Tantramar Veteran’s Memorial Civic Centre on Main Street is equipped with a generator and could be put into use as a warming centre or emergency centre.… Continue
New aboiteau needed for Lorne Street phase III
The final phase of the Lorne Street Floodwater Mitigation project may be approved for funding, but there’s one more hurdle to clear before the project will move forward as planned: the New Brunswick Department of Transportation and Infrastructure (DTI) needs to agree to build a new, bigger aboiteau to drain into the Tantramar River.
When, how and if they will could be decided in a meeting slated for next week.
Englobe (formerly Crandall Engineering) engineer Pierre Plourde came to town hall Tuesday night to update councillors on the state of the project, and stress the importance of gaining the cooperation of DTI. The current aboiteau draining into the Tantramar is undersized, said Plourde, and that’s been known for many years, throughout the life of the stormwater project.
“It was built in the 1900s, so it’s too small to be able to take the water between the tide cycles and evacuate the water,” said Plourde. “So that aboiteau is in need of a major upgrade.”
Plourde says that in previous phases of the project, DTI has been receptive to the idea of replacing the aboiteau, but the lack of funding meant further progress was delayed. Now that just over $4 million in federal and provincial funding (plus just under $1.5 million from the town of Sackville) has been approved, it’s become much more important to know what DTI is planning.… Continue
Talking tidal floodplains with town engineer Dwayne Acton
Listen here to Tantramar Report for Tuesday, February 22, 2022.
Isolated flooding and a full retention pond during Thursday storm
In a single storm last Thursday, more rain fell in Sackville than in the entire month of August combined. According to Environment Canada, Sackville saw 81.6 mm of rain on Thursday, September 2. The heavy rain filled the town’s new retention pond, had sewage pumping stations working at capacity, and caused isolated flooding at spots throughout town.
Town engineer Dwayne Acton says that overall, town infrastructure fared well, but that might have to do with some lucky timing in terms of the tide cycle. “During the heat of the storm we were somewhat on low tide,” says Acton. But if the worst of the storm had come at high tide, “we might have seen a different story.”
“We had some very intense times throughout the storm,” says Acton. “The retention pond did a fantastic job in holding the water that was coming down to Lorne Street.” But Acton points out that despite the storm not hitting one-in-100-year levels, “the pond was basically at the brim.”
The pond did overflow onto St. James Street at one point in the storm, and the pathway along St. James was flooded as well.… Continue