Shediac Bay Yacht Club looks for financial relief from the province post-Dorian

It’s been more than two weeks since hurricane Dorian ripped across the Maritimes, leaving a path of destruction in its wake. While New Brunswick is still assessing the damage, people in the Shediac area are hoping the province will soon announce financial assistance to cover the costs of damage not covered by insurance.

“If there is a program, we will be applying” said Gerry O’Brien, manager of the Shediac Bay Yacht Club.

O’Brien said the marina was insured, but hopes to apply for disaster financial assistance from the province to help pay for damage not covered by insurance

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The province has yet to announce if a program will be available as it’s still assessing the damage.

Dozens of boats and broken docks were sent crashing into shore during hurricane Dorian, and while the damaged boats have since been hauled away, the dock system now sits on shore in a broken heap.

“Certain main docks are a total write off there is no question,” said O’Brien.

He said the cost of the damage is still being assessed as the damage was extensive.  Even the metal beams that held the dock in place bent like straws under the force of the storm surge.

“When everything shifted it just took the piling and everything with it” said O’Brien, who has been boating in Shediac for decades and said he has never seen anything like it.

O’Brien said that divers will have to be brought in to inspect the boat slip, as there’s fear that even the concrete slab under the water has shifted. Engineers are also working at the marina this week, using drills to test the stability of the ocean floor beneath where the docks once sat.

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Meanwhile, the yard is swamped with beaten boats at Romeo’s Marine and Autobody in Shediac.

Jackie Leger, who works at the shop, said she has been working her way though mounds of assessments for insurance claims.

“The people give us a list and we have to check, ‘OK, this is what happened to them, and this is what is missing,’ so we have to look it up,” said Leger.

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The Insurance Bureau of Canada’s Atlantic vice-president Smanda Deans said is asking people to be patient if at all possible.

“When you have damage to your home, your car your personal belongings your pleasure craft is is never an easy thing to go through,” said Deans.

But given the sheer number of claims being filed across the province post-Dorian, Deans said the claim process may be slower than normal.