We weren’t ready for this.
We knew that Hurricane Matthew would leave destruction and even potential death in its wake, and yet we were assured that the system that battered Haiti and the southeastern U.S. would veer away from the Atlantic provinces.
So maybe it’s just as well that thousands were without power for most of last week, as they avoided the spectacle of red-faced weather forecasters admitting to their TV audiences that they didn’t see this one coming.
By the time Matthew made its way northward to wreak havoc on Newfoundland and Labrador, a combined 14,086 Nova Scotia Power customers in the counties of Richmond, Inverness, Antigonish and Guysborough were still without power. And although most of these people were back online within the following 48 hours, the weather system that had been downgraded to a tropical storm by Thanksgiving Monday had still left its mark on the Strait area.
As the Canso Causeway entered a brief shutdown mode and schools were cancelled across the Strait region’s four counties, washed-out roads were reported in communities such as West Arichat and Grand River, while Antigonish’s Columbus Field was pretty much underwater for the early portions of the past week.
And yet, somehow, this region that has so often borne the brunt of accelerated rain and high winds managed to hold it together. Even Cheticamp, which saw the roof of its hospital blown off by 200-kilometre winds in the spring of 1993, didn’t feel “La Sting de Suetes” this time around.
They weren’t so lucky elsewhere.
By now, you’ve all seen the astounding photos and videos of flooded streets in Sydney and Glace Bay, or of houses nearly crumbling into the sea in Port Morien. You’ve witnessed the impact that 220 millimeters of rain can have when it falls on a community of any size in a six-hour span.
You’ve heard the tearful stories of homeowners who have lost everything in this deluge and, in many cases, been left high and dry by their insurance companies. (One Whitney Pier resident likely summed up the feelings of many in the area by declaring that she would “never again live in a home with a basement.”)
Few aspects of community life were left unscathed – residents, schools, churches, hospitals and businesses all endured Matthew’s rage. It may take several weeks, even months, to fully comprehend the damage to Cape Breton’s most populated areas, already estimated at “millions and millions” by newly re-elected Cape Breton Regional Municipality Mayor Cecil Clarke.
Even the Celtic Colours festival wasn’t immune. Louisbourg and Membertou were among the evening-concert locations that struggled to maintain a working sound system and, in some cases, offered refunds to patrons after brief “unplugged” sets from the featured artists.
And yet, as we often see in times of struggle and tragedy, ordinary citizens are doing extraordinary things to cope with the destruction left in Matthew’s wake.
In Eskasoni, one of the hardest-hit areas, washed-out roads prevented 250 Celtic Colours attendees – many of them American tourists visiting Cape Breton for the first time – from leaving the First Nations community following an early-week show. At the local cultural centre, serving as a post-Matthew emergency depot for Eskasoni, audience members were heartily fed and the evening’s performers played for hours after the concert’s original final curtain, while emergency crews set up a temporary detour to guide visitors home.
Neighbours dealing with issues at their own homes didn’t waste a minute to help others, with some taking to social media to offer services ranging from pumping out flooded basements to setting up generators. Volunteer firefighters and police officers stood in waist-deep water in the middle of the night to ensure that residents safely reached their destinations.
And now, as Cape Breton slowly but surely dries out from this, it’s up to us here in the Strait area to show some solidarity with our neighbours in the CBRM.
Yes, we’ve griped about the region claiming that it speaks for all of Cape Breton and the prevalence of the so-called “Seal Island Syndrome” in terms of economic and regional development. None of that matters now. We don’t live far away enough from Sydney, Glace Bay, Port Morien or Eskasoni to dismiss them in times of trouble. (Anybody heading to Sydney anytime soon for a medical appointment, sporting event or shopping trip will know that something just feels different about the place.)
Matthew’s voyage was a rocky one for our friends north of the Richmond County line. Let’s stand together with them to help Cape Breton – and northeastern Nova Scotia, for that matter – come out of it with our heads truly above water.