Cleanup bills mounting for municipalities hit hard by post-tropical storm Fiona - Action News
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Nova Scotia

Cleanup bills mounting for municipalities hit hard by post-tropical storm Fiona

Months after post-tropical storm tore through Nova Scotia, municipalities in some of the hardest hit areas of the province are still clearing debris and tallying up bills they expect will continue to grow throughout 2023.

Truro, Municipality of Pictou County would like federal aid money as soon as possible

Fiona's storm damage still felt in Atlantic Canada

2 years ago
Duration 2:06
Post-tropical storm Fiona did extensive damage to trees and trails when it tore through Nova Scotia more than three months ago, and some communities are looking for help with the enormous price tag to clean up.

Staff atVictoria Park inTruro, N.S., wouldnormally be laid off at this time of year. But they're busy cleaning up the damage caused by post-tropical storm Fiona more than three months ago.

The powerful winds toppled towering hemlocks, causing extensive damage to the park's1,200 hectares of woods and walking trails near the centre of town. Many sectionsremain off limits as a private contractor cuts down and hauls off the downed and damaged trees.

Mayor Bill Mills said progress was sometimes slow because of the steep terrain, but three months of steady work is bearing fruit.

"I would say that we're a little bit over half, maybe two-thirds[done]," said Mills. "That might be a stretch, but we've made some great progress."

Cut tree stumps are seen on the side of a hill. Some still-standing trees are seen in the background.
Stumps are all that remain of sections of the park where hemlock trees once towered over walking trails. (Jean Laroche/CBC)

What can be salvagedis being sent to mills to be turned into building material, according to the mayor.

"We've had about 20 tandem truckloads of hemlocks taken out of the park and that wood is for sale," said Mills, adding that some of the remaining wood will be used to buildrails,park benches or picnic tables.

While the town was recovering some of its remediation costs, he said at last count, the estimated price tag was already $230,000 and counting.

"I think it would be fair to say it's going to beprobably well over half a million dollars," said Mills. "That's speculation right now. But based on the damage that's up there, it might even go higher."

Truro Mayor Bill Mills says what is being salvaged from the park is being sent to mills to be turned into building material. (Paul Palmeter/CBC)

Around 60 kilometres northeast, the Municipality of Pictou County has already spent about $600,000 clearing the damage caused by Fiona. Warden Robert Parker estimated the bill would likely grow to $750,000 or more.

"[A] big part of our recreation in rural PictouCounty is our trail system and it was terriblybadly damaged," said Parker. "And so there's going to be requests coming from those trails associations, you know, for hundreds of thousands of dollars probably, too."

"So it doesn't end, you know, even at [$750,000] or a million, it doesn't end there."

Wooden stairs are seen trailing down the side of a hill. Trees and debris are seen at the bottom of the stairs, on the railing.
Jacob's Ladder, a popular spot in Victoria Park, was damaged by fallen trees during Fiona. (Jean Laroche/CBC)

AlasdairVeitch, a member of the Cape to Cape Trail Committee, said his group would definitely be looking for help to restore sections of hiking trails his group looks after.

He estimated 40of the 50 kilometres of local hiking pathssustained damage during Fiona. Much of that damage has been cleared by hand, saidVeitch,but his group will need money to hire professionals to handlethe hardest hit areas.

"To get back to where we were [on]Sept.23, 2022, I don't think we'll get there this year, 2023," said Veitch. "It'll probably be 2024 before we get back to even some semblance of where we were before."

Locals who like to snowmobileor ride all-terrain vehicles have also been busy clearing the trails they use. Floyd Cock, a member of the Pictou County Trails Association, said his group hasalready spent close to $200,000 to clear roughly 80 per cent of the trails in the region.

He said the hurricane-strength winds created "absolute mayhem" in the forests of Pictou County.

A man stands in a forested area while wearing a baseball cap and a red flannel jacket.
Alasdair Veitch of the Cape to Cape Trail Committee says it could be 2024 before sections of trails are restored. (Robert Guertin/CBC)

"It was heartbreaking, to be honest with you.It was depressing for the first two or three weeks for me to go around because I was asked to do an assessment of the trails," said Cock. "We have about 260 kilometres of trails that we maintain and we couldn't even access them."

The group used drones to survey the damage.

"When you looked down from the air, you couldn't tell a trail was there," he said. "It was simply a pancake of trees laying across each other, every which way.

"We brought in machinery in a lot of casesat great expense, and we aren't sure yet how we're going to pay for it."

Work is underway to reopen Salt Springs ProvincialPark, a popular day-usearea in Pictou County.

The Department of Natural Resources and Renewableshas hired a contractor to cut down and haul away trees uprooted or damaged during the storm.

A man stands in a forested area.
Floyd Cock, a member of the Pictou County Trails Association, says it was "heartbreaking" to see the damage while doing an assessment of the trails. (Robert Guertin/CBC)

David Steeves, forest resources technician at the department, called the damage "all encompassing."

"We lost hundreds and hundreds [of trees]and some very old, mature woodkindof what the park was known for," said Steeves. "Beautiful red spruce and pine and hemlock, the trees that are there when a forest has reached its full potential.

"We lost the vast majority of thatin this park, unfortunately."

The municipalityand others in the region are also worried about damage to private woodlots in the municipality.

"Acres and acres" of woodland has been flattened, said Parker.

"It will be generations ... before those will come back," he said. "There's a tremendous amount of devastation that will never get cleaned up."

An orange barricade is seen blocking access to road leading into a park. A white sign on the barricade reads 'Park Closed.' Cut logs are seen behind the barricade, beside the road.
Cut logs are seen at the entrance of Saltsprings Provincial Park in Pictou County. (Submitted by Robert Parker)

Parker is concerned all the dead wood might be fuel for a forest fire in the coming years.

Steeves said was something the province would be keeping an eye on.

"We're going to have to rethink some of our strategies in regards to how we're going to access certain areas," he said.

"There is extra fuel on the ground from the storm so it's something to have to definitely consider."

Truro and Pictou County are both eager to receive the aid promised by the federal government in Fiona's aftermath.

"We're going to be applying for as much as we can possibly get," said Parker.

A downed tree is seen crossing a trail in Victoria Park in Truro.
Some trails in Victoria Park are still blocked by fallen trees and debris. (Jean Laroche/CBC)

Mills is hoping the money flows faster than it did in 2003 when another fall hurricane cut a swath of destruction across the province.

"I know that for expenses incurred from Hurricane Juan, five, sixyears is the timeline for when we get that money back to support our budgets and support expenses," said Mills.

"Our budget is close to $26 million a year now, and so you take a half-a-million-dollars expense like thatthat might require a couple of streets not being rebuilt in the upcoming construction season."

The same goes for projects in Pictou County.

"Those costs will keep on coming, and so it probably will mean that some other projects will have to be put off for a year or two," said Parker.

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