WINDSOR JUNCTION: A long-standing business in Windsor Junction could close up shop if there’s no provincial funding for those impacted by the flood storm that hit on July 21-22.
In the community of Windsor Junction for example, flood waters covered Windsor Junction Road and reached high levels of submerging vehicles at a business, while causing thousands of dollars in damage between three businesses The Laker News spoke with on July 24.
At Expressions of Wood, owner Steve LeBlanc said he is looking at a hefty repair bill and is hopeful that the water didn’t destroy all his motorized equipment he has in the basement of his business where work is done for his customers.
He’s also hopeful there will be provincial financial support provided.
“If there’s no government funding, then it may take me out of business,” said LeBlanc. “I think I can get through it. The chances of everything being 100 per cent destroyed is not very likely.
“However, I’m very concerned with mainly motors and bearings and rust and things like that.”
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As LeBlanc spoke of what he fears to be damaged by the water, he points to sheets of plywood that lay on a pallet. While the bulk of those may now be no good, there are about 15 sheets he thinks will be salvageable because they were up high, so no water touched them.
“That’s between $100 and $200 each and it’s almost all gone,” he said. “It can’t be used for cabinets because you don’t know if the glue is going to let go or whatever.”
A truck that is outback of the building was submerged in the flood waters. The truck was owned by his dad so it has sentimental value but now has water on its inside and will likely be a write-off.
Dave Campbell is renovating the building next door, where the well-known chair—with a for sale sign on it—was located. He said he has thousands of dollars worth of damage to his building – and equipment.
He said his car was fully submerged, as well as an excavator; a skid steer and an electric lift on the side of the building.
“The water was up over six feet on the side of the building,” said Campbell, taking a break from cleanup duties with a fellow employee.
LeBlanc said the province has to provide some form of disaster relief for businesses who were impacted. He said he does have flood insurance, but it’s less than a quarter of what it will cost him to get things back in shape.
“It’s super important,” he said. “I need to know what is coming, because I can spend thousands and thousands of dollars to get this place cleaned out and checked out, and if there’s no money coming, then I’m going to be in a hard position.
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Campbell was at the building at 4 p.m. on Friday when he left. It was heavy rain. Three-and-a-half hours later he got a call he never expected.
“I got a call that our property was flooding,” he said. “We pulled in the front lot and the water was up to the back bumper of the Jetta there.
“I could see that this door had about a foot and a half of water. The door collapsed.
“A couple hours later the car was fully submerged, and we had a full 4.5ft of water in the building on the main floor.”
Campbell said a structural engineer was hired to do the structural work in the building, and they were over on Monday.
“The force of the water leaving blew my garage doors open and we had had building supplies that were moved 200 metre right across the road,” he said.
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LeBlanc and Campbell both point to a culvert nearby as the culprit of their angst and headaches with the recent flooding. And it’s not a new problem. They have been after Halifax Water for a few years to fix it, so something like this wouldn’t happen.
“There’s no way this should have happened if the ditches and culverts were cleaned properly and were properly sized,” said LeBlanc. “There’s been issues, not nearly this bad, in the past and all they did was put a Band-Aid fix to it.
“I think it starts right at CN because it’s no good to put a four-foot culvert or two four-foot culvert across the road if CN has a two-foot culvert.”
“I think my one concern is there may have been a blocked culvert causing the water to back up,” said Campbell.
Bobby Grace, who runs Bobby Grace Furniture, said only a fix to the culvert will prevent future flooding in that area, and the businesses from suffering.
“That culvert down there has been a problem for 20 years,” he said. “The water commission have done nothing about it. That’s the only thing that can help anything moving forward.”
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It’s a concern echoed to Councillor Cathy Deagle Gammon, who visited July 24 to hear their concerns.
In an interview after, Councillor Cathy Deagle Gammon said she was pleased to be asked over July 24 to physically see the damage to those businesses, hear about the financial loss and the compromised structures and equipment.
“For those businesses, their main concern to me was that the culvert was compromised and not functioning well for quite some time,” said Deagle Gammon. “They felt that there would have been damage from the storm, yes, but would it have been as significant as it was if the culvert was functioning as it should?”
She said it is something she will be bringing forward to Halifax Water when she speaks with them.
“They are aware that the culvert didn’t function,” she said. “The issue was whether there was a pre-exiting condition that further complicated these businesses and the experiences with this weather event.”
Deagle Gammon said the storm was unprecedented and feels the review in hindsight will be interesting.
“We had no warning it was going to be like this. Why was there no warning?” she asked. “Not having a warning, none of us were prepared. We need to be better prepared.
“The culvert system do we need to make sure it can meet and handle this kind of stuff? It will be interesting to see what the experts say can be done to put us in a better position, so this doesn’t happen again.”
