KENTVILLE, N.S. — The impact of post-tropical storm Dorian is still being felt in several Kings County communities several days after the fact.
Based on the forecasted track of Dorian, the Kings Regional Emergency Management Organization (REMO) activated the emergency coordination centre (ECC) at the County of Kings municipal complex in Coldbrook prior to the storm’s arrival.
Key municipal personnel and other agencies involved in the response gather at the ECC to support activities taking place at the site of an emergency while facilitating a coordinated response.
Regional emergency management co-ordinator Dan Stovel said Kings County experienced heavy rain as a result of the storm, with 112 mm being recorded in Kentville. There were strong winds, but not as powerful as in other areas of the province.
“We saw wind gusts upwards of 70 to 90 km/h, whereas right along the Atlantic coast, they had some wind gusts up to 140,” Stovel said.
A shelter was set up at the Kentville Fire Hall on Sept. 7 from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. Five people were put up there temporarily due to flooding in the vicinity of Condon Avenue and Park Street. However, the affected residents either went to stay with relatives or were soon able to return home.
Robert Foley, a resident of Kentville’s Brook Avenue who spoke to media this past March about concerns over the possibility of the neighbouring Mill Brook flooding, was keeping a close eye on things. Water reached the top of the bank by Foley’s house but didn’t breach it.
“I figured it would be up there,” he said.
With the tide in and heavy rain falling, Mill Brook couldn’t discharge as usual into the Cornwallis River. Foley’s basement didn’t flood but some of his neighbours closer to Main Street weren’t so lucky.
Although electricity had been restored in many communities for a couple of days, there were still many areas without power on Sept. 10. Across Kings County, 15 community comfort centres remained open.
Stovel said Nova Scotia Power crews and those that have come from Newfoundland, New Brunswick, Maine and Florida to help restore electricity deserves kudos.
Considering all the fallen tree limbs and downed power lines, he said the residents of Kings County also deserve congratulations for avoiding roadways, sheltering at home and staying safe. He said the people here are resilient and neighbours help neighbours in times of need.
Stovel reminds the public that although hurricane season has peaked, it isn’t over until the end of November. It’s still possible that Kings County could be impacted by another major storm.
WATER, WASTEWATER UTILITIES IMPACTED
Following Dorian, the County of Kings advised the public of the prioritization for clean-up efforts. The primary focus was maintaining the integrity of municipally-provided drinking water and wastewater management, as well as mitigating the impact of flooding. The clean-up of debris on municipally-owned properties and roads was secondary.
Director of engineering and public works, lands and parks services Scott Quinn said that Kings County didn’t experience the same sort of impact with regard to road washouts with Dorian as with post-tropical storm Erin the week before. Overall, the impact on municipal infrastructure could have been worse.
“The power failures that pretty well affected the bulk of the county certainly had an impact on our water and wastewater operations,” Quinn said. “We’ve had some reports of issues with backups in a couple of homes.”
The county has eight separate wastewater treatment systems, 72 lift stations and is responsible for two water utilities. Quinn said that, for a municipality of its size, this is a lot of infrastructure to take care of with no electricity.
Quinn said a couple of the wastewater facilities have backup generators that can run some of the treatment systems on a reduced capacity but several were without power. Fortunately, lagoon-based facilities can continue operating for a while without much intervention.
“Some of the lagoons just had to hold it a little bit longer than normal but, without generators, certainly some of our treatment systems were offline,” Quinn said.
He said on Sept. 10 that things were slowly getting back to normal but there were still power outages affecting some areas. Quinn said they were rotating what generators they have and were using vacuum trucks to stay on top of the wastewater situation in areas where power had yet to be restored.
RELATED:
- Dorian in the Annapolis Valley: We asked for photos and you responded
- Kings County recovers from the wrath of powerful post-tropical storm
- Where to take Dorian debris in Kings County
- PHOTOS: Dorian’s aftermath felt long after the storm in Annapolis Valley
- Post-Tropical Storm Erin brings heavy rain, isolated damage to Kings County region
