The mother who lost her 6-year-old daughter in the devastating flood from 2.5 years ago has written a children’s book to help navigate the coping process of unimaginable grief.
It was in July 2023 when torrential downpours hit areas of our province resulting in the death of four people in West Hants, including Natalie Harnish.
Photo: Courtney Harnish
Courtney Harnish is currently a stay-at-home mom with her son Christian and newborn, Charlie.
In an interview with our newsroom, she describes the flood as the worst night of her life.
“It had been raining all day, thunder and lightning all day, we were woken up in the middle of the night by a friend of ours and told the area was flooding,” says Harnish.
She says, when they got out of bed there was already water in the house and 911 was not able to get to them right away due to the sheer number of calls.
“We jumped in my husband’s truck to try to get free of the water, and unfortunately the truck stalled in the middle of the road, and it went down,” adds Harnish.
Courtney and her husband waited until fire rescue came but Natalie, a six-year-old boy named Colton and their dog, never made it out.
“I remember being in the water and holding my two-and-a-half-year-old son and screaming for Natalie and not getting a response because there was no way for her to respond,” says Harnish.
“Not knowing if we were going to make it out. Not knowing what was going to happen. Not knowing anything. It was terrifying.”
She says she started therapy quickly after the flood and that’s when it was decided that writing was a better way to process things.
“I started to write about the flood itself, and that was really hard and really sad,” explains Harnish. “So, I started writing about happier memories. I turned one of those happier memories into a story.”
That’s when she created The Adventures of Natalie Hazel – Trip to the Zoo.
Photo: Courtney Harnish
She says although it was a really hard process to go through, to have the book come to fruition, feels amazing.
“I absolutely love that the little girl in the book kind of resembles a cartoon version of Natalie. Having her name and her personality kind of out there is incredible,” says Harnish.
“I want people to be able to hear Natalie Hazel Harnish and not just think about the flood but also think about the beautiful, kind, sweet little girl that she was.”
And the response?
“Really incredible,” says Harnish.
The book is available on Amazon.
