While being under a state of emergency is serious business, April Crocker still managed to find a bit of humour in the situation.
On Sunday, the Trout River resident watched her two young sons hop in an inflatable raft and row across the flooded town to visit their grandmother.
On Monday, they were ice-skating on the same section of town after temperatures plummeted and the floodwaters began freezing up solid.
“It was bad,” she said of the widespread flooding caused when the river that gives the low-lying town its name breached its banks and permeated a large portion of it.
“But I didn’t mind the boys going in the raft, as long as they stayed away from where it was moving fast.”
She wouldn’t have let them do that Saturday, when the floodwaters were flowing so strongly right outside her house that it would have been hard to stand up in it.
By Sunday, the waters began to recede and were much calmer.
“They asked me if they needed lifejackets, but I told them if they fell in, it was only up to their knees and they should be OK,” laughed Crocker.
In general, the situation in Trout River was no laughing matter at all. Many properties were flooded, including homes, businesses and Jakeman All-Grade School.
“The school is pretty much an island,” explained Coun. Tom Sheppard, adding that many properties were still surrounded by the falling water Monday.
At the height of the storm, one resident’s fishing shed was washed into the river, noted Sheppard.
The town’s roads and culverts were undermined by the surging waters, as was the town’s wharf.
“You can tell the wharf has actually sunk down a little bit,” said Sheppard.
The town was waiting for the water levels to drop before being able to fully assess the damage caused by this storm.
The freezing of pooled up water Monday, however, will make it difficult to determine the full scope of the situation and what will be needed to fix it.
