An outpouring of sympathy is filling a social media post for a 46 year old woman who died on Saturday in the height of the rain and flooding in Richmond County.
Strait Supplies identified Stephanie Comeau as a former employee and states “she will be forever remembered as a kind, funny, generous, and gentle co-worker and friend.”
Additional comments extend condolences to her family and friends, with other memories being shared of Comeau as an employee in the customer service industry.
Recovery efforts continue
The cleanup and repair work continues across parts of Cape Breton following last weekend’s massive flooding where over 200 mm of rain fell in heaviest areas. Crews are tackling everything from major road washouts to damage affecting individual properties.
For residents like Charles King on County Line Road, the damage is quite literally at the end of the driveway.
King says flooding left a roughly 200-foot trough alongside the road, with water eating away underneath the roadway in places. Concerned about losing access to his property, and worried the road could eventually break apart, he used gravel he already had on hand to fill part of the damaged area.
“I just threw it in there so we could get in and out of the driveway,” King says.
He says he understands crews are dealing with much larger problems across the county.
“They got bigger fish to fry. This is a small problem for them,” King says.
But King remains concerned about what is happening underneath the road.
“I’m just worried about the road breaking up, that’s all. Because it’s undermined underneath the road,” he says.
No problem is a small one
Richmond County Warden Lois Landry says King’s situation is an example of why the recovery effort cannot follow a simple one-at-a-time priority list.
Landry says crews are identifying needs across the county and sending major resources toward major problems, while independent contractors are also being used to address smaller issues.
“They’re trying to get as many solutions out as they can, as quickly as they can,” Landry says.
That approach means residents shouldn’t assume a smaller problem will have to wait until every major road is repaired.
“Small projects have already been done because they’ve been getting local contractors to do that while the big guns handle the big projects,” Landry says.
But she does have a warning for residents who are considering making their own repairs.
Landry says people should contact the appropriate emergency or non-emergency numbers before taking action, because flooding can create damage that isn’t immediately visible.
“We have roadways we have photographs of roadways that are that once they went to inspect the road looks just grand and underneath it is almost nothing,” she says.
That concern is particularly important in areas where the surface of the road appears passable but the ground underneath has been weakened.
Landry says anyone who spots damage should report it rather than relying solely on social media posts. A municipal support line was also being used to direct residents to the appropriate provincial contacts.
And for anyone travelling through affected areas, Landry has a simple request: give crews room to work and avoid roads that may be unsafe.
Repairs will take time
Meanwhile, Richmond MLA Trevor Boudreau says progress is continuing across the county.
In a Facebook post, Boudreau reported that power had been restored to the few homes near Roberta that remained without electricity, allowing residents to move cautiously toward Dundee. He also said work was continuing in River Bourgeois, where a detour remained in place.
Previously, Boudreau reported significant progress on West Bay Road between St. George’s Channel and Roberta, while noting a major washout remained on the St. Peter’s side and would take more time to repair.
For residents, the message is that the recovery is moving forward, but the scale of the damage means repairs will take time.
