The skies above Lumby have dried up but that is little comfort for the residents of the small village.
The community experienced upwards of 75 millimeters of rain in the past 48 hours and the area waterways have spilled their banks
“About 4 in the morning our neighbor knocked on our door and woke up my husband and I guess that’s when it was starting and hit hasn’t stopped,” says resident Naomi Chounard, “ This just keeps coming and coming and it won’t stop and we’re starting to get a bit concerned about it coming up into the trailer.”
Bessette Creek has flooded and now, says Lumby Mayor Kevin Acton, most of the town is under water.
“We’ve had people that have been evacuated, businesses that are getting flooded. We had ground getting water on it that hasn’t seen water in probably 10…15…20 years. So it’s definitely devastation on a town this size.”
It’s particularly frustrating for a town that had just finished cleaning up from its last flood a month ago.
Resident Lawrence Olson says the water in his back yard is up to his waist,” We’re still trying to get over the last flood; it was a couple thousand dollars. I can’t imagine what is going to cost us.”
But this flooding is the worst many residents have seen in 10 years and Lumby Operations manager Roger Houston says the fear is that it is not quite over yet, “We just don’t want it to rise any more If it rises some more then we are going to have to get some people and huddle up in here and find a way to get out of this.”
For the moment it appears the creek has crested and with the weather appearing to be cooperating, it is leaving a little room for hope for Acton.
“I can’t call it off yet because there are still some rain clouds in the sky and until it’s crystal blue we’ll be keeping our fingers crossed.”
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