'Scary' floods force Fredericton residents to flee their homes

Many peoplearound McMinniman Court on Fredericton's north side have left their houses as water levels continue to rise.

It's thefirst time 17-year-old Emma Bichon and her family haveexperienceda major flood, as they've only lived in the neighbourhood a few years. The water in their basement is getting close to the ceiling.

It's the highest waters have been in Fredericton, N.B., since the 2008 flood.

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"It's kind of been really hectic the past couple days," said Bichon.

Saturday was her first time seeing the whole subdivision submerged in water. She was at school when her parents called her and told her not to come home because the house was flooding.

"It's kind ofscary," said Bichon.

The family's dogs are out of the house, but the cats are staying put. Thebasement is unfinishedand most of their stuff is stored on racks, butthe water came in so quickly and rose to high that they only rescued a few things.

Familiar territory

Patricia Hugheshas lived in the neighbourhood for almost 30 years and saidthis year's flood is pretty bad.

Hughes said Friday morning she started to notice water coming into her basement."It's stressful because it's our house and it's our belongings and that sort of thing, but we're usually pretty prepared for it," said Hughes.

Anyone who wants to walk to their house in the neighbourhoodhas to use hip waders to make it through the water. Rubber boots won't cut it.

Many people have decided to stay and the power is still on.

On Thursday evening, Hughes told her family to pack, as she wasn't sure where the water level would get to on Friday.Hughes said it usually takes a couple days to clean up once the water recedes.

'Slow down'

People are struggling to drive onMcMinnimanCourt and Riverside Drive. The water is over the road andHughes said people drive too fast through the water and push wavesonto houses.

"As thewaves move, it forces [water] onto the people's property, which can damage the foundation or damage the windows,"said Hughes.

Alert Ready to send emergency messages to smartphones

6 years ago

Duration 1:46

Alert Ready, the national emergency system that already sends alerts to television and radio, will soon be sending them to mobile phones too.