Flooded basements and washed-out roads were reported at Cape Breton’s Eskasoni First Nation on Sunday. The incidents included significant flooding inside a beading shop located in the basement of a home. “There was a foot of water,” said Annie Battiste, one of the store’s workers. “I was in Crocs.” Before long, there was a crowd of people helping pump the water out – an effort that took hours, lasting late into the night. On Monday, people were still showing up with buckets, Shop-Vacs and dehumidifiers. They managed to save most of the inventory, but the floors will likely have to be replaced. “We were completely drenched in dirty water and so it was really a horrible, icky kind of night to have,” Battiste said. Eskasoni Chief Leroy Denny said the community received 142 mm of rain – one of Sunday’s highest rainfall totals in Nova Scotia. The band has been working around the clock to help people with flooded basements and roof leaks, and to repair washed out driveways and roads. “We had around 25 calls for floods in basements,” Chief Denny said. “Our EMO and our housing contractors, they went to calls last night - they have been working all night and still today.” In Benacadie, N.S., Kevin MacNeil spent much of Monday filling in his driveway - repairing what was washed away by the previous day’s heavy rain. “It never stopped raining,” MacNeil said. “I had to get out of here. I went down to my friend’s place and stayed there overnight.” MacNeil said the water level in the river next to where he lives nearly reached his trailer and that it’s not the first time his property has been damaged like this. “I mean, this is terrible,” MacNeil said. “This place was neat... There wasn’t a thing out of place.” In Eskasoni and surrounding communities on Monday, much of the water that had been on the ground the day before was gone. However, with even more rain expected people in the area are now on guard to try to prevent that same kind of flooding from reoccurring. “Eskasoni got a lot - a lot - of rain last night, so it’s just making sure that we are on top of it this time,” Battiste said. Chief Denny added there was no major damage and no one was hurt. He said the community is ready to ask for help from the Cape Breton Regional Municipality and the provincial government if they were to need it. For more Nova Scotia news, visit our dedicated provincial page
