DIEPPE, N.B. – A Dieppe daycare is scrambling to figure out a temporary location after it was hit by major flooding Thursday.
By the time assistant director Joline Horsman ventured inside to see what could be salvaged, the water had receded to about two feet high.
“Devastation. It’s just surreal what’s happening,” Horsman told Global News.
She managed to save some of the centre’s most important items: their sign-in sheets, laptops, cash box and cheque book. She also managed to save a few personal things.
“I saved some of the presents that the parents had brought for their kids,” she said, explaining that they were supposed to be for a Christmas party planned for later in the month.
La Cartine daycare looks after 98 kids, ranging from infants to 12-year-olds, and employs 12 people.
It is located in a large building at Amirault Street and Fox Creek Road, overlooking Fox Creek in Dieppe, N.B.
Inside, the brown water doesn’t match the brightly painted walls and hand-made artwork. Toys, shoes and filing cabinets floated by.
The daycare is trying to relocate temporarily. Their goal is to open, somewhere, on Monday.
Brent Leaman said he had two kids aged five and eight at the daycare.
“The kids love it here,” he said. “Actually when they heard it had flooded out, they were sad. Because it’s where they meet all their friends. It’s where they play every day.”
There is another daycare next door to La Cartine. It was not flooded, but has lost power after NB Power shut it off for safety. According to NB Power, the power will stay off until the water recedes completely and an inspector is able to do a check. The owner told Global News that she has offered to help however she can, but the daycare is full, so they can’t take any more kids.
A brown dumpster sits by a bridge, running under Amirault Street. Owner, Caroline LeBlanc, said it was originally behind the building about 200 meters away.
She is still waiting to speak with her insurance adjustors about the damage, but she’s hoping they will be able to return to the building in the new year.
She said in the meantime parents have been very understanding.
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