Fires near my city

[Farmer X]

Hope they manage to stop them soon.

You and me both!

Strangely, I haven't been too bugged by the horrendous air quality out here...

[Grant Lamontagne]

The fires here are completely out- we've had pretty consistent rain since last month, but now we are facing some minor flood problems.   

The rest of Canada still has many fire issues though.

We drove past one of the fire areas two days ago and you can see houses that are destroyed, and many that have the siding melted off them- I hope the rest of the house (and contents) are intact.  There are large chunks of forest gone, but there are already ferns poking through.  It won't be long before new growth makes this nothing but a memory, thankfully.

Def

[MadPlumbarian]

Fires, floods, dang you can’t win can you.. we’re still under an air quality alert, we basically have been since last Monday I think, but last week the # was up in the 200’s, vs now it’s 71, at least we can crack a window and we can breath, I can only imagine how it is or was up your way!
JR

[Farmer X]

The fires here are completely out.

That is some good news! Hope every fire in Canada is out soon.

[Grant Lamontagne]

Just waiting on the locusts now!

Def

[pfrsantos]

Just waiting on the locusts now!

Def

If things are anything like here, the prices never go down after a calamity. It's more common to have high costs.

 

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I know, I know... going to the naughty step.

 

[Grant Lamontagne]

Yup, costs never go down here, only up.   

But, things have improved so much that we were actually able to have a campfire last night- and we are in Shelburne, where the biggest fire was.  There has been so much rain over the past weeks that the water level on lake we are visiting is several feet higher than normal.

Def

[Grant Lamontagne]

It never rains but it pours.   

Literally in this case.  There is a lot of significant flooding in my province now after some massive rain and thunderstorms- and we aren't through it yet.

Bridges are out, some roads are underwater and sinkholes are forming.

I've already had to start an insurance claim as the basement of my house is flooded for the first time ever. I have about an inch of water down there on top of the flooring, which means there is about 4-5 inches of water as there are a few inches of subfloor framing under the flooring itself. 

My house flooding gives you an idea of how fast the water has accumulated, because I am about a third of the way down a particularly steep hill- ground level at the front of my house is 8-10 feet below the back of my house, and so water shouldn't accumulate enough to ever give me problems.  In fact, I'd always said that if I ever had issues then it meant the whole city was smurfed.

And, I was right.   

I'm nowhere near as bad off as most people, but even so the basement apartment in my house will have to be completely gutted, possibly even back to the studs in places and completely rebuilt/replaced.

The only good thing in all of this is that I have flood insurance, which is something I was always sure I'd never need!

https://atlantic.ctvnews.ca/extreme-rainfall-floods-parts-of-nova-scotia-1.6489976

Def

[McStitchy]

That's terrible! I hope you'll get it sorted out fast and without major problems.

It's been rainy here too for the last few weeks. But we don't have a basement. They don't do those around here for some reason 

[Grant Lamontagne]

Well, we need pretty solid attachment to the planet due to the hurricanes and tropical storms we get.   

My basement isn't just a regular basement, it is an apartment as I own a building, not a house.  Fortunately it is uninhabited at the moment or I'd have some very upset tenants.

I'm also glad that my father left last weekend, and wasn't here for this, and also that it didn't happen next weekend when Megan and I will be away and wouldn't have found the flood for a few days. 

It's a smurf thing to happen, but fortunately (for us at least) the timing was as right as it could be.

Def

[McStitchy]

At least 

I'd like to have a few weeks off and help you with the repairs. Some change from the never ending IT job.

[Grant Lamontagne]

Thanks.  There's nothing I'd enjoy more than having a party with MTO members where we rip out and replacing walls, flooring and maybe a window or two, but I don't have the time to do it myself anyway.  I work at least 12 hours a day, and that doesn't leave a lot of time for home improvement projects.

I'll have to hire a contractor to do all the work.

Def

[Grant Lamontagne]

The powers that be are on TV right now, and have just confirmed that we have had roughly three month's worth of rain in the past 24 hours.

There are also five people declared missing so far, and the rain is starting up again.

Def

[McStitchy]

 

[Grant Lamontagne]

Sorry, was 4 people missing, not 5.  My mistake.

Def

[WhichDawg]

I was just reading about your flooding. What a year your having! Virgin sacrifice time?

[Farmer X]

That's nuts. Hope awl is sorted out soon!

[Dutch_Tooler]

Just seen the news on this on the BBC page - hope this gets better soon, hang in there Grant

[Grant Lamontagne]

Thanks everyone.  It's not supposed to rain today,so hopefully some of the water will start to recede.  Many of these shots are from the neighborhood I work in:



In fact, I drive this road every day:



I shot a couple of videos of my work site on  Friday when the storm started, and on my drive home that I'll upload to YouTube for you too.

Def

[Grant Lamontagne]

Here they are:



As most of you know, I work outside in construction and was right in the middle of it.  There was lightning striking all around me and the wind went from being nonexistant to pushing my Jeep around in about two minutes.

The radio announcer, in a studio near my house said that it looked like he was "about five minutes from the Apocalypse" while the day still looked quite normal where I was.  Fifteen minutes or so later the sky darkened, the wind picked up and I knew we were in for a bad one.

Def

[nakken]

That is extreme Hopefully it blows over soon

[SteveC]

Sorry to hear of the damage to your building Def. Hopefully you can get it dried out quickly to minimize any mold issues.

[Grant Lamontagne]

Sorry to hear of the damage to your building Def. Hopefully you can get it dried out quickly to minimize any mold issues.

I've had my dehumidifier running 24/7 since the storm.  That should keep mold/mildew issues at a minimum.

It's not a great thing to happen, but if this is the worst thing to happen to me all year I think I'm doing okay.

Def

[Grant Lamontagne]

We are having another storm right now, which is the third major storm since the first one two and a half weeks ago.   

At this rate I think it will be easier to just convert my basement into a swimming pool.   

Def

[pfrsantos]

That is extreme Hopefully it blows over soon

Really?! After fires and floods, now you're calling for tornadoes?!

 

[Grant Lamontagne]

Thats actually something we don't get here, oddly enough.  Something to do with being too close to the ocean  I think.

Besides, if I recall my biblical studies correctly the locusts are up next!

Def

[Chako]

Sorry to hear about all the fun you are having down in Halifax. 

I hope things turn for the better.

[Grant Lamontagne]

For those keeping count, we have had SIX major storms since the flood, which continued to affect those that were affected by the initial flood.

Fortunately they haven't seemed to do a huge amount of additional damage, although many in the province (including me) are still dealing with the issues.  My insurance company has yet to even come and see the house, a month after the initial storm, and I'm getting antsy over some potential mildew issues.

But, on the bright side, the first big hurricane of the year has, at the last minute, veered west and won't actually hit us, although we will get high winds and rains from it.

Still better than getting hit by it though!

Def

[WhichDawg]

Now I hear you might have hurricane problems!   
“current forecasts would bring potentially damaging winds, heavy rains and coastal flooding to Nova Scotia, including Halifax”

[Grant Lamontagne]

Yeah, Hurricane Lee is looking like it is going to hit the other side of the province.  We should have some wind and rain, but it shouldn't be too bad.

Also, I think it is expected to be downgraded to a Trop cal storm by the time it hits.

We will see tomorrow what actually happens though.   

Def