City workers in Corner Brook dealt with two more water breaks on Monday around the same Beothuck Crescent/Elizabeth Street area that had breaks occur on Saturday.
An increase in pressure after having the water shut off, combined with the cold snap following Saturday’s thaw, were to blame, Mayor Jim Parsons said.
“It’s all related to that,” he said. “Same problem we had on Saturday.”
Besides dealing with that, crews were out and about around the city fixing potholes and areas where gaps exist between driveways and roads. They were also about to get the depot cleaned up.
Parsons said they’re still not sure if there is permanent damage, but the power is back on and they are temporarily back in the building.
Assessing damage is the next big task, he said, and all damage will be carefully documented so a disaster relief claim can proceed. The city will make a claim, but information on how individuals can go about making claims will also be distributed. Parsons says that will happen in the next day or so.
As for any impact on Scotiabank Hockey Day in Canada, Parsons said the event is “full steam ahead.”
City staff put water on the outdoor rinks Monday and, with cold temperatures expected all week, Parsons said everyone is optimistic there will be ice in time for Saturday.
With snow guns running on Marble, Parsons said Marble Mountain chief operating officer Tony Abbott is determined to get the bottom slopes ready in time for Wednesday’s “The Music of Hockey” event at the ski resort. A part of that event was going to see the Stanley Cup skied down the hill.
“I’ve got no doubt he can make that happen,” Parsons said.
“We’ve got to do our best to put on a really big show. This is a national event,” he added. “We’ve got to turn around real quick and refocus our effort there.”
Trout River
In Trout River, Mayor Gloria Barnes said they are just trying to take things “one day at a time.”
Premier Dwight Ball was in the town on Monday to view some of the damage, and Barnes said there will be applications at the town hall for residents to apply for funding from the provincial government for damage to basements and things like that.
The state of emergency was still in place Monday, but the town is in the midst of cleanup now that the water has receded. The hope is that Transportation and Works will be on the job today cleaning up roads and clearing the debris and crushed stone from around the school so it can open on Wednesday. An article in Monday’s Western Star stated the school would be open on Monday, but that wasn’t the case.
Barnes said there is plenty of damage done to the town’s wharf, as well as to the private wharfs of residents. One person had their shed washed out to sea on Monday.
“Now it’s just helping people get back to where we were,” she said.
Humber Arm South
Workers in Humber Arm South were busy Monday putting roads and driveways back together, filling washed-out areas and restoring road shoulders.
Mayor Glenn Savard said that work would continue today and he’s optimistic work on the sides of the road will be completed.
Unfortunately, the Frenchman’s Cove area of the four-community town is still under a state of emergency, though that was lifted in the other three areas as of around 3 p.m. Monday.
Due to a damaged road near John’s Beach, access to Frenchman’s Cove has been limited to emergency vehicles only, if they’re needed. A review of that state of emergency will occur again at 3 p.m. today.
“You can go over the road,” Savard said. “But it has a couple of cracks there that are pretty severe.”
He said a geotechnical engineering team was coming in sometime Monday and will do a visual inspection of the road.
York Harbour/Lark Harbour
A helicopter service has been transporting residents of sister communities York Harbour and Lark Harbour with medical issues to and from their appointments, as the section of highway at Rattler Brook is still impassable after a washout.
To make matters worse, the damaged section of road near John’s Beach has prevented heavy equipment from getting through and assisting with repairs.
York Harbour Mayor Charlie Kendell said they have culverts at Rattler Brook, but they haven’t got fill to cover them.
“Everything is on hold as far as I’m concerned, for now, until that road is fixed,” he said.
The helicopter will operate again today between 8:30 a.m. and 4 p.m., and Kendell said there will be a boat heading from Lark Harbour to Benoit’s Cove at 10 a.m. and going back to Lark Harbour at 2 p.m., if anyone is looking to get something brought into York Harbour or Lark Harbour.
Little Rapids
With a bypass in place and only minor delays anticipated, the Trans-Canada Highway near Little Rapids is passable.
As for repairs to the highway, Butch Vardy, chairman of the local service district committee, said culverts were in place around 4 p.m. Monday and they were starting to fill them in, but that was the last he saw of the area.
Residents of Little Rapids didn’t seem to have a bad go of it, Vardy said, but stressed that just because he hadn’t heard anything doesn’t mean nobody had issues.
“But usually people are calling looking for pumps or whatever, but we haven’t had any calls at all this time.”
The local service district had no issues with washed out roads or anything else that has plagued other communities.
“We’ve been lucky in that respect,” he said.
