Premier Considers Changes Going Forward After Water Levels Drop

New Brunswickers remain on high alert, as the water levels continue to rise in parts of the province.

Once they recede and repair work begins on roads and homes, what will the province do going forward?

The Quebec government is offering $200, 000 to those with homes built on flood plains, in an effort to encourage them to move.

That isn’t expected to happen here in New Brunswick, but Premier Blaine Higgs says they are going to have to evaluate the situation, “I think we just need to be more diligent, where we are in communities, whether we work with municipalities to ask if these are safe places to build anymore. We have to work with those individuals, because they are going to have trouble getting insurance, and we just have to plan a different profile going forward.”

Higgs says they will have to look at the impacts they are seeing with changing weather conditions.

“As we rebuild those roads, let’s bring them up a bit higher, let’s look at those conditions,and make the changes at the time, not just fix a washout. The same with houses, with residents who may have chosen to rebuild last year. I think we need to look seriously at the impacts, and how we encourage people to relocate,” Higgs says.

Flooding in New Brunswick is expected to become a common occurrence in the years going forward.

Higgs says they will build on their experience, “The degree of support in the field, the degree of competence in the field, and the lessons we’ve learned are showing. We’ve had some major incidents over the last few years, with the ice storm in the northeast and the flooding situations here. It is something we have to get better at every year, because we must.”