‘Unnecessary’ flooding angers Queens County residents

Many residents are claiming the power company doesn’t pay attention to weather forecasts in order to let water out of the lake before large storms begin and, instead, lets it out during a short period of time to flood the watershed south to Mill Village, Charleston and beyond.

Flooding occurred about two weeks ago after two days of rain and accompanying warm weather that melted built-up snow and ice.

Nova Scotia Power Inc. spokesperson Margaret Murphy said the company does let water out of the lake when storms and melts are predicted and officials are constantly talking to residents about the issue.

“We appreciate that people obviously want answers, that they have concerns and need to know from us what our role is in working with EMO.

“We do take measures to move water in advance of large (weather) systems so our lakes and rivers can act as a buffer but there is no complete buffer against Mother Nature.”

In fact, she said many watershed areas without hydro-dams experience much greater flooding.

Labelle residents, Bruce and Shirley Hatt don’t agree flooding is necessary in most years.

Bruce Hatt said, “We can see it rise eight or 10 inches over night. It’s my point of view they are holding that water back and then all of a sudden letting it out all at once. They don’t give it a chance to run off. Why not let some out (early) and let nature take its course?” He laughed. “I guess we need a genius to figure it out.”

He added “old-timers” have advised him that flooding was rare when local people made decisions about the dam before automation and sensors became part of the process.

Their cottage/home was heavily flooded. “Our main beef is we can’t get out. A couple of times (in the past) we had to use a boat.” They set up a temporary boardwalk this year. Hatt is also worried about medical emergencies and ambulance access issues that might occur along the watershed.

Labelle resident and son-in-law, Kevin Corkum said residents have experienced flooding in various degrees at least once, sometime twice per year over the past five years.

He has started getting signatures on a petition he plans to send to the power corporation and government officials.

He saw one driveway disappear under water in five hours, which he said is too quick to be caused by only natural factors.

He added flooding has caused residents, including his family, thousands of dollars over the years.

“Everybody agrees someone should be watching it. Let the dam out a few days before the rain. You put sand bags down before a storm. If there’s going to be a wind storm, you put the lawn chair away before it hits.”

He has also called Queens MLA Vicki Conrad, who has promised to get an explanation from whomever is in charge.

Retired Emergency Measures Zone Controller for Southwest Nova Scotia Ed Backman, an area resident is trying to arrange a meeting with officials from the power corporation, Department of Transportation, Region of Queens and the Emergency Measures Organization along with Conrad.

He said he knows from experience the flooding is unnecessary, that they wait to pull out numerous stop logs within a short period of time after the lake has risen.

“They overwhelmed the drainage system with the surge. Once they started to get up to three feet, they should start managing the levels. They can manage levels within two feet at any given time. When you manage it at that level, the drainage system can handle it and the drainage system in this case is the Medway River system.”

He also agreed watching the weather forecast is obviously logical.

Another expert area resident is Lou St. Clair-Golding, who managed the Twins Falls Power Corp. hydro power plant in Labrador, before and after it was incorporated into Churchill Falls.

“It always seems to be too late, that they’re in a panic situation. It’s really a simple thing. They should be drawing down that lake earlier than they do. They should be listening to the weather forecast. They’re not dealing with huge amounts of water. This is like playing with pools on a beach. In Labrador we dealt with thousands of more gallons of water and we never had an occasion of flooding.”

He added residents were promised in the past the situation would be remedied.

He said he believes the problem is bureaucratic in nature because the solution is so simple.

“It’s very much of a common sense type of thing. It’s just a matter of procedure and they must have gathered the data needed to do this. It’s not a new dam. They need to sharpen their thinking on this a little bit.”