Some
observations about the recent near-flood
by
Robert LaFrance
As I write, its looks as if
Perth-Andover has escaped The Flood of 2014 which looked pretty certain for a
while, as if 2012 and 2014 were destined to become bookends in the village’s history.
I can only think of the word
‘miracle’ (and possibly, so far, the phrase ‘dodged a bullet’) when trying to
come up with a name for this year’s event that turned out not to be as much an
EVENT as it had been almost 25 months earlier. The thickness of the St. John
River ice, the huge snow pack from those 3,823 winter storms – it could have
been a disaster for sure, but there must have been an intervention from
Somewhere, if you know what I mean.
Nevertheless, there was a great deal
of inconvenience to area residents and a few cases of “Who woulda ever thunk
it?”.
The Beech Glen Road (Jawbone
Mountain) washouts were quite bizarre. One story I heard – and I refuse to
actually do research on this – is that a garbage barrel found its way to one
end of a culvert and then Murphy’s Law took over. Because the rushing water
couldn’t get through the culvert, it chose the next easier route – across the
road. Of course it took out the road, and, as if preparing for a flood wasn’t
enough, D.O.T. had to haul dozens of loads of gravel to fix up that road so
vehicles could get by.
This is the odd part: after the road
was fixed up enough for travel, they left the ‘road closed’ signs up for many
days. True, the road wasn’t pretty, but it was certainly driveable. Whoever
left up those signs didn’t seem to realize that people from Lower Kintore and
Kincardine – even Muniac if their road was closed – had to travel via Kintore
Road to the Tobique River and Highway 109 just to get to Perth. From my house
this journey was 35 km, although going over an admittedly rough Beech Glen Road
was only about 14 km.
One of the first roads to be covered
with a foot or so of water was, as always,
Highway 105 north of Perth, where the late Abner Paul used to have his
Tobique Wigwam shop, and the second was Muniac Road. After the 2012 flood I
spoke to Provincial Cabinet Minister Bruce Fitch and explained carefully that,
if Muniac Road were closed and the P-A bridge were closed, the only way to get
downriver – including White Elephant Hospital – was to drive via Arthurette and
Grand Falls, unless Brooks Bridge happened to be open – not likely.
This time Muniac Road was closed yet
again, because no road-raising had been done. Possibly the money spent for
government officials to attend Nelson Mandela’s funeral was the money destined
for Muniac.
One of the most important lessons we
should all have learned this time though, was that Facebook is not to be
trusted.
We should all have learned this by
now, but I for one evidently needed a jackhammer to pound it in. I don’t know
how many times I read that Perth-Andover bridge had been closed (It hadn’t been
closed at all), but I am certain it was more than five. After the flood danger
seemed past, I read that Highway 105 below Perth was now open. Even though
‘road closed’ signs were still up on that road, just below Kilburn, I assumed
it was a Beech Glen Road deal and ignored them.
A kilometre or so below the P-A
lagoon, the road was blocked D.O.T. vehicles and a large load of gravel. They
politely told me that there was still water over the road at the lagoon and
that I was an idiot for believing Facebook. No, they didn’t say that last part
out loud, but I did. So I had to drive back down to Muniac Road, over to
Kintore Road, and then pretend that Beech Glen Road was open in spite of the
‘road closed’ signs. Good thing; I don’t think the Toyota could have taken
another trip across those Upper Kintore ‘yes-ma’ams’. At one spot I drove right
over the top of an Austin Mini.
All in all – except for that
business of leaving ‘road closed’ signs on Beech Glen Road that was clearly
driveable, things went quite well. All the emergency workers were ready for
action. Unlike 2012, EMO seemed to be watching, and Beechwood Dam operators
were drinking coffee instead of warm milk this time. However, there is the
little matter of raising vital roads and having up-to-date phone lines (with
live persons answering) and a website
to tell people what roads are open. I, and most people I know, are fed up with getting voicemail when we
want to find out whether this road or that road is now open. Facebook ain’t it.
We’ll talk more later.
-END-
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