I stayed in the lovely oceanside hamlet of Halls Harbour for a week during my recent stay in Nova Scotia. My aunt has a charming cottage just a short walk away from the harbour, and I was fortunate that she let me stay in her home away from home.
Though didn’t grow up in Halls Harbour, I love being close to the ocean. Halls Harbour is a popular tourist destination on the shores of the Bay of Fundy (mainly because of its tourist-priced lobster pound and restaurant).
When I left Calgary, the weather was rainy, gloomy and generally blah. So I was looking forward to hot and humid days in the Annapolis Valley. Of course, I arrived just in time for the remnants of Hurricane Beryl to make its way through Nova Scotia.
It was late in the day on a Thursday when the rain started to come down in buckets. At first I thought it was just the regular summer rains but the rain was so heavy that I had to pull over to the side of the road because my windshield wipers could not keep up with the heavy rain fall.
I sat in the parking lot of the Atlantic Superstore for a few minutes watching the deluge while I talked to my aunt on the phone.
I wasn’t surprised to find the store aisles ankle-deep in water, recalling how it flooded during last September’s tropical storm.
That night I listened to the relentless rain. The next morning, it had stopped so I ventured out early as usual. I headed down the usual way around the harbour when I came across a roadblock. I didn’t think much about it – perhaps the road had a little water on it.
Later that day, I headed back home when I was stopped at the other entrance to the harbour. I had to drive all around on this crap road to reach the cottage. When I got home, I listened to the news and heard about all the flooding damage across the province. (Here I am completely oblivious to what’s going on in the world when I am in work-vacation mode.) I was shocked to hear about the flooded basements, and damage to roads and culverts. (Sadly a young boy in Wolfville was killed after being swept into a water-filled ditch.)
More than anything I was shocked to hear that the boardwalk down at Halls Harbour (a mere 800 metres from me) – was destroyed in the flash flooding and a section of the road was washed out. Hence the reason I could not take the scenic harbour drive. The next day, I picked up my dad and we walked down to survey the damage.
My brother, who works at the lobster pound, said the flash flooding had begun around 8:30 p.m. and the road washed out around midnight. Scores of people were down at the harbour watching and taking photos. (I was in bed listening to the rain.) Even more people were coming down over the next few days to look at the big hole.
On a related note, if my pictures inspire you to visit Nova Scotia, let me warn you. The roads in rural Nova Scotia are horribly checkered with potholes. My rental car barely survived all my backroad adventures over those two weeks.
I expect the widespread damage across the province won’t be repaired for months after speaking to some locals about the usual state of business. My week in Halls Harbour was good especially because I came home with a big bag of dulse. If anything, I have another weather story to share with friends.