Almost six months after being extensively damaged by Hurricane Fiona, repairs are underway to get the Pointe-du-Chêne wharf ready for Victoria Day Weekend.
“We’re still estimating things but (the cost of the repairs) should be between three and four million dollars,” Pointe-du-Chêne Harbour Authority general manager Victor Cormier told Global News on Monday.
“We had major damage to the access road to the wharf, we had gas and diesel tanks that we need to replace, also the footings and decks of various buildings we need to fix that and replace that, we need the harbour entrance dredged and a whole host of other things,” he said.
He is hopeful the wharf will qualify for provincial and federal financial aid to pay for the repairs, as their insurance only covers a little over $380,000.
“The insurance only covers buildings and contents, so anything outside of that like the main wharf or the entrance (…) it doesn’t cover that.” he said.
Cormier hopes the repairs will have them in a better position for the next time a storm hits.
“We want to fix it for long term so we’re getting all the proper engineering done so when we do do the repairs it will be for the long term.”
Arthur Melanson of the Red Dot Association, a group of Pointe-du-Chêne residents focused on environmental concerns, says the community is now even more vulnerable to flooding or erosion because the dunes that once protected the community were severely eroded during the storm.
“Those dunes that we had here were also a stopper to keep the water from coming in,” he said on Monday.
“So if those dunes aren’t there then it becomes more of a flat land just for the water to wash itself right into the community.”
Jolyne Hébert of the Shediac Bay Watershed Association said shoreline erosion can only be slowed, but not completely stopped.
Her organization is advocating for natural erosion protection techniques like protecting dunes, wetlands and creating “living shorelines” rather than costly artificial methods like building physical structures to protect the sealine.
Living shorelines are shorelines made of natural materials.
“The more natural approach will be at its weakest at the beginning, but it will grow stronger over time as the vegetation develops their root systems to maintain the soil in place,” she said.
She said residents can help mitigate erosion by not mowing their lawns all the way to the shoreline, and planting trees near the shoreline.
The Red Dot Association has applied for provincial funding to hire an engineer to mitigate the effects of storms like Fiona.
“We had (a hurricane) in 2000, the next one was 2010, then we had Dorian in 2019 and we had Fiona in 2022. So what’s gonna happen next, are we in a trend where they’re going to be closer and closer?”
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