A week after devastating flooding once again forced evacuations, caused millions in damage, and activated the highest level of the town's community disaster plan, it's clear the future of Sussex is at stake, according to Scott Hatcher, the town's chief administrative officer 

"Without the solution, without the funding, without the mitigation plan — we're going to die a slow and painful death over the next couple of decades," Hatcher said.

Attracting new businesses and people, he said, won't happen "with this cloud hanging over our head. If we don't change that, we're simply not going to survive."

After historic flooding in 2014, 2019, 2020, 2022, and now 2024, it's clear climate change "is real, it's here — and unfortunately our residents are living it." 

 

After another historic flood, Sussex renews plea for federal help

Duration 2:54

Sussex residents aren't the only ones living it. So are the people of Tantramar and the Acadian Peninsula — and across Canada, in municipalities from Merritt, B.C. to Calgary to Windsor, Ont., toSt. John's. 

But Sussex believes it knows how to stop the slowly unfolding disaster. The town's ambitious flood mitigation master plan includes a flood flow diversion channel at the town's eastern limits, another diversion channel on Parsons Brook, and stormwater infrastructure upgrades in the northwest and northeast of the town. 

The first project in the plan — a $1.2-million berm behind Gateway Mall — was completed in 2019.

The $1.2 million berm behind Gateway Mall, pictured, is the only major project in the town's flood mitigation master plan that's been completed so far. (Roger Cosman/CBC)

Buying some properties and restoring them to a floodplain will also be part of the solution. Up to 60 homes in a marshy area between Post Road and the back property lines of Bryant Drive may have to be purchased, Hatcher said.

"We have a solution, we've modelled it. We know it will work, and more importantly, it's going to work every time we need it," Hatcher said.

But with a $38 million dollar price tag, that solution doesn't come cheap — and if the past few years have been any indication, it's likely the next flood will arrive before the money does.

     A partially submerged Tim Hortons location last Thursday in Sussex. (Julia Wright/CBC)

Online form 'glitch' causes delay

Like the creek that runs through the town, applying for flood mitigation funding in Sussex hasn't always run smoothly. It's been a five-phase, seven-year process just to to come up with the current master plan.

The first flood study was published in 2016. In 2019, a joint task force on flooding was struck between Sussex and nearby Sussex Corner (the two communities have since amalgamated). Sussex engaged the engineering firm Gemtech to assist with the assessment and mapping process.

Then COVID hit, tying up limited resources in the rural community and slowing down progress on the flooding file.

By 2022, the town managed to identify a federal funding stream under the Disaster Mitigation and Climate Adaptation Fund and was ready for the first application round in June 2022, Hatcher said. 

     A drone captured a photo of significant flooding in the town of Sussex, N.B. (Submitted by Ronnie Davis)

But — maddeningly — that application was derailed by a "technical glitch." When town officials tried to submit the online form through the federal portal, he said, the "submit" button wouldn't work. 

"We were seeking help from the IT people in Ottawa," Hatcher said. "We were in the process of working it out." But as they worked to address the glitch, the window to submit the application ended. Sussex was told to wait for the next intake in 2023.

That "frustrating" online form snafu, said Hatcher, amounted to another year lost.

The application was submitted in July 2023. It's been under review by Infrastructure Canada ever since. 

Scott Hatcher, chief administrative officer for the Town of Sussex. (Julia Wright/CBC)

More than $1 billion in federal funding is available in the current intake of applications for the mitigation and adaptation fund.

But it's unclear when Sussex — which is looking for $15 million from the federal government — will get an answer. 

"We haven't had any outreach from the department who has our application, or from any federal ministers who can advance the file," Hatcher said.

The Infrastructure Canada website says only that the department "will communicate the results in writing as they become available." 

Residents pump out water last Thursday at a home just off Stewart Avenue. (Julia Wright/CBC )

'Please, God, do it quick'

Conservative Fundy Royal MP Rob Moore met with Sussex Mayor Marc Thorne and town officials on Saturday and again on Monday, after the floodwaters receded. Moore said he's raised Sussex's concerns with Infrastructure Minister Sean Fraser and Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc, but he's limited in what he can do as an opposition MP.  

"At the end of the day, the decision on whether to fund a project or not rests with the government of the day," he said. "It's not up to a local member of Parliament," he said. 

Conservative MP Rob Moore and Sussex-Fundy-St. Martins MLA Tammy Scott-Wallace. Moore says he's been continuing to push the flooding issue in Ottawa. (Submitted by Alissa Landry)

Cheryl Ward, who lives on flood-prone Stewart Avenue, said she understands how government works but finds it frustrating to see politics impeding urgently needed solutions. 

Last Thursday during the flood, "the river was right here," Ward said as she gestured toward a dumpster — for homeowners' flood debris — in the middle of the street.  "You could have put a boat in it and floated along."

"While we're waiting for them to decide — what's going to happen?" 

What will happen to Sussex, specifically, is hard to say with so many major climate change projects competing for federal dollars. Strengthening and raising the Chignecto Isthmus, for example, is another imminently needed project. It is expected to take 10 years and cost $600 million once work gets underway. 

Ward, who has spent years and tens of thousands of dollars flood-proofing her home, says residents want assurance that all three levels of government are looking for solutions for escalating flooding. (Julia Wright/CBC )

In the meantime, Ward has spent tens of thousands of dollars of her own money on flood-proofing her home: five sump pumps, raising the hot water tank and electrical system, flipping her furnace horizontally, installing shelving and removable plastic wall panels. 

"It would be nice to know that you've got the federal government, provincial government, municipal government all behind you to get it fixed, she said.

Anything, she said, would be better than nothing. "Please God, do it quick."

The flooded banks of Trout Creek, pictured from Leonard Drive. (Julia Wright/CBC )

Elena Monchalova, a Ukrainian newcomer living in Sussex, N.B., woke in the middle of the night on Wednesday to loud sounds coming from her basement. Looking out the window, she saw her house engulfed by water.

This isn't the first flooding she has witnessed, she says. In a previous storm, a couple centimetres of water got into the basement. But the water was a metre high and rising this time.

"I prayed," she said. "It was terrible."

Last Tuesday, a storm caused rivers to overflow and spill into the streets in Sussex, resulting in similar flooding for many residents. Twelve streets had to be closed and 24 people had to leave their homes.

Monchalova, her husband and two children were in the house and watched the water rise, knocking over their boiler.

The family doesn't plan to leave Sussex, but Monchalova said the government must be better prepared.

"We pay taxes, good taxes, and we must feel safe. It's not good for your health because it's always cold [because of the flooding]. And it's expensive."

The basement wall in Monchalova's basement shows where the water level was during the flooding. It was over a metre high. (Louis-Philippe Trozzo/CBC)

Possible solution

Scott Hatcher, the town's chief administrative officer, said Sussex has collaborated with engineers on a plan that would divert some water from Trout Creek through a channel to the Kennebecasis River.

The project would cost $38 million, and the town is seeking funding from all levels of government, he said.

"Even if we had the funding tomorrow, it would take five years to get it completed," he said. "But it will work, and most importantly, work every single time."

Hatcher said as many as 657 homes have been partially or severely damaged at a cost of $190 million.

The town has put out dumpsters across the town, especially in the streets hit the hardest, to collect trash and debris. He said he expects the cleanup will last up to two weeks.

He advises residents to document any damage done to their properties due to the flooding and to register it with the town.

"It's a significant loss for many, many people in this community," he said.

"And the more sites like that we have, the more water we're holding on to the landscape, and therefore we're not sending it downstream, not impacting our municipalities that are usually further downstream." 

Passekeag Creek, one of many meandering tributaries to the Kennebecasis River. (Mike Heenan/CBC)

A network of tributaries drains the land around Sussex, feeding into the Kennebecasis River.

"There are a ton of communities on the Kennebecasis, and the most important one for us is the town of Sussex, which is frequently flooded. So if we can keep the water on the landscape, we're protecting the town from future flooding."

The cow factor

As he talked, Whalen nodded toward the fish jumping in the rippling waters of the Passekeag Creek near Norton. Cleaner water is a major selling point for farmers, who want healthy livestock too.      

"When cattle are moving, this is their water source as well," he said. "They come in, they'll sit here, they'll drink their water. If they're defecating in there and then the next cow comes in, essentially they're drinking some of that. 

Dairy cows graze near rebuilt banks of Passekeag Creek. (Mike Heenan/CBC)

"It's like you and I going to the toilet and drinking out of the toilet. We don't want the cows doing that either. It improves their health by making sure they're drinking clean water."

Over the past three years, Whalen has negotiated with the farmer whose land borders the Passekeag Creek, persuading him to allow the restoration committee to dig up and rebuild the creek banks, fencing them off from grazing livestock and restoring a nearby cattle crossing. 

It's a mammoth task. Earthmovers are brought in to dig up degraded shorelines, a foundation of rock is installed, then a layer of willow brush topped by a biodegradable blanket that holds a layer of soil in place.  

Then the whole area is fenced off to give it time to recover.

There are 50 other sites like this in the Kennebecasis watershed, an area that takes in more than 100 livestock farms. Whalen and his crews have also installed 50 kilometres of fencing to protect shoreline habitats.

Working with willows

On nearby Mitchell Brook, Ellen MacGillivray and Abby Lamrock clad in hipwaders, pounded willow stakes into the muddy banks. 

Planting willow sticks to reinforce recently restored banks of the Mitchell Brook. (Mike Heenan/CBC)

Willows love water and they'll send out a dense net of roots that hold soil in place. Added insurance against future erosion.

"The more sites like that we have, the more water we're holding onto the landscape, and therefore we're not sending it downstream, not impacting our municipalities that are usually further downstream."

Whalen knows the work being done here won't solve all the flooding problems faced by towns like Sussex, but it's a good start.

"At the least we're maintaining the status quo, so things aren't getting any worse. And with climate change and a growing population, maintaining the status quo is going to be an important achievement."