WATCH ABOVE: Residents in Sussex Corner say the village isn’t doing enough to protect residents from potential flooding this fall. Global’s Shelley Steeves reports.
SUSSEX CORNER, N.B. – Residents in Sussex Corner say the village isn’t doing enough to protect residents from potential flooding this fall.
The community’s flood committee says it wants the creek that runs through the community cleaned up because they fear flood waters could devastate their homes, again.
“Get the dead trees out or at least cut them up so that when we get another high water there is not a great big jam down here at the river,” said Susan McNichol, who sits on the committee.
Resident Beth Debow says her subdivision along the creek has flooded several times in the last few years and she fears if something isn’t done to clean up the creek and mitigate flooding, there will be another devastating flood this fall.
“I know for sure November or December there is going to be another flood and you get tired of it. Who wants their basement to be flooded every year? I just want help,” she said.
MacNichol says their requests for help are being ignored by the village.
“We are getting absolutely nowhere.”
Sussex Corner mayor Stephen Gilles agrees the creek does need to be cleared of debris, but he doesn’t believe that will eliminate the flood risk.
“The solution is to move the homes and we need help from the province to move the homes.”
He says the village applied for funding from the province to move 18 homes in the flood plain two years ago and was denied.
But now Gilles says there are two homes being moved by the province.
According to the N.B. Emergency Measures Organization, two homes deemed beyond repair are being bought by the province under the disaster financial assistance program. But no other buyouts are expected.
So resident like MacNichol and Debow say they have no choice but to stay and hope for the best.
In the meantime, Gilles says if the flood committee puts a formal request into the village council, he will recommend they apply for a permit with the Department of Environment to have the trees removed.
But he says that entire process will likely take several months. So it could be too late for the work to happen this year.
“I hope it happens it would be one of the first positive moves in over a year,” said MacNichol.
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