Fredericton businesses re-open after 2018 flood

Business owners in Fredericton are happy to see water levels go down, so business can once again pick up.

Crews at Carman Creek Golf Course have been busy cleaning up debris and getting the course ready to open this weekend.

Golf course president Terry Avery said while water levels reached or exceeded 1973 levels in some parts of the province, the flood’s aftermath isn’t as previous years.

“We’ve had a lot worse, but there’s a fair amount [of cleanup],” Avery said.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "We've had a lot worse, but there's a fair amount [of cleanup]," Avery said.

Avery has been overseeing the golf course since 1996. He said he had a gut feeling that this year’s flooding would be bad. Luckily, for Avery, neighbouring properties that received the brunt of the damage.

Avery also said that taking precautionary measures – like wrapping the clubhouse in plastic and filling several sandbags – saved the building. He said one edge of the clubhouse is a little bit lower and about an inch of water got into the building, causing “minimal damage.”

Avery hasn’t yet applied for that disaster funding, as cleanup has been the main priority.

“I have four guys out right now cleaning and raking and lugging debris,” he said.

The driving range is once again open after it was forced to close due to the mats and tees being covered with water. That closure lasted about a week.

Across the road at Wetmore’s Landscaping, Sod and Nursery Ltd., owner Rod Wetmore said things are getting back to normal.

“We’re doing alright. Here we’re pretty much back up to running full tilt here in our location that’s close to Fredericton. We’ve gotten most of the cleanup done, plants are back on the lots and we’ve been opened up since last Friday,” Wetmore said.

While water levels were higher than in previous years, Wetmore said the damage in spring 2017 was worse because it stayed up longer than it did this year.

He said the office is a trailer and there wasn’t any damage to the inside because they know the nursery is in a flood zone.

“Our buildings that we can’t move are hollow-walled.  We check the electricity before we hook them back up but the water comes up, we hose them off, wash them off, the water goes down, we don’t get too worked up about it.”

While the nursery is recovering well, Wetmore feels there are a lot of people in worse situations than they are and their hearts go out to those hit hardest by flooding.