HALIFAX — Nova Scotia's Department of Public Works said Thursday it had repaired nearly 500 sections of damaged roads and 60 road shoulders since a series of thunderstorms last weekend caused severe flooding across the province.
Crews had also replaced 62 culverts, but there were still about 20 provincial road closures, down from nearly 60 on Saturday. The department said 19 bridges that needed minor repairs had reopened. Another 29 bridges needed more extensive repairs but some of them were open with precautions, such as weight limits. Another seven bridges will need to be replaced.
“We haven’t assessed the full extent of the damage yet,” Public Works Minister Kim Masland said following a cabinet meeting. “Still in some places we have rivers where we had roads.”
The minister said that while floodwaters had receded substantially, her department was still getting calls about potentially damaged secondary roads.
“It’s hard to say what the (cost) of the damage is right now, but of course we will be tallying it all up and we will be asking the federal government for assistance through disaster relief,” she said. Masland did ballpark the cost as being “in the tens of millions.”
Work crews were assessing the safety of a 60-metre bridge that remained closed near Exit 7 on Highway 103. The stretch of Highway 103 on the province's South Shore between exits 7 and 8 was also closed. Masland said it was a priority to reopen the highway, on which10,000 vehicles a day travel. Traffic through the area was being rerouted at Exit 7 through Trunk 3.
She said the bridge’s abutments and end piers were severely damaged and that engineers were at the site as early as Saturday. After initial fears the bridge would have to come down, Masland said work could be done to support and fix it.
“When you look at it, it’s absolutely mind blowing to think that the force of that water actually took out those abutments like it did.”
The minister said she expected one lane on the bridge could be reopened to traffic within the next couple of days.
Public Works said around 200 of its staff and 40 private contractor crews were working on various repairs across the flood-hit parts of the province, which include the region northwest of Halifax and the South Shore.
Also Thursday, Premier Tim Houston was asked about reports from rural West Hants that local residents didn’t get public alerts about last weekend's flash flooding. The area, northwest of Halifax, is where an intensive search this week recovered the bodies of three of four people, including two children, who went missing when two vehicles were submerged by rushing floodwaters.
“Cellular coverage remains an issue in the province, it’s something I remain concerned about,” Houston told reporters. He said he has had discussions with a team at Build Nova Scotia, a Crown corporation that builds strategic economic infrastructure, to see what can be done to improve cellular service.
Meanwhile, rain was in the forecast for much of the areas affected by last weekend's storm. Environment Canada said between 20 and 40 millimetres of rain was expected for Nova Scotia, with amounts possibly higher in the province's southwest.
Torrential rain over the weekend dumped up to 250 millimetres of water on several parts of the province.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 27, 2023.
Keith Doucette, The Canadian Press
