Resiliency Plan for Chignecto Flooding
The Mayor of Amherst says discussions on the danger of massive flooding across the Isthmus of Chignecto are moving quietly but slowly, behind the scenes.
David Kogan told Six Rivers Radio, “Personally, within the last few weeks, I, personally met with the leads from New Brunswick and Nova Scotia on mitigation,” of what he called, “The resiliency plan as it is now called.”
Speaking on his regular Tuesday appearance on Morning Talk, the mayor says, “Unfortunately it’s still a ten year plan and the first five years are still going to be planning.”
While people are looking for some physical action on the flood plain, the mayor’s immediate concern is a contingency plan in the event of an emergency. Kogan says, “That is definitely being worked on.” He concedes that climatologists agree a crisis is more likely now, saying, “We would if there happens to be a major storm combined with a full moon and a high tide, such as happened in 1869 with the Saxby Gale.”
While most agree that such a storm would knock out the transportation corridor between Nova Scotia and the rest of Canada with devastating impact.
The mayor says, “If a flood occurs, we will run out of fuel in Nova Scotia in three days. We will be out of food in five days. So there needs to be a contingency plan.”
In fact, Kogan is now assured that such a plan exists. While rail access would likely be completely severed, the plan calls for alternate road transport. He says, “The plan is in place to provide the ability to transport around that blocked corridor.”
Kogan says, “Unfortunately, government moves slowly and its very, very, very frustrating.”
He says the engineers are adamant that the project will take ten years and he added, “I’m not happy about that, I think none of us are happy about that, which is why discussions about a contingency plan are more reassuring to me.”
That plan includes a truck route near Baie Verte through Tidnish and possible use of helicopters to move goods between the two provinces which Kogan says, “While it won’t be perfect, it’s at least something and will hopefully make a flood survivable.”
The map shows the emergency route to bypass flooding on the Isthmus of Chignecto would run in the norther sector through Baie Verte NB and Tidnish, NS.
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