Flood Details - 1989-02-22 - 1989-02-22

Tantramar River Basin: Heavy rains and runoff from about 0.6 metres of melting snow on February 22 caused flooding in the town of Sackville, particularly on Charles and Lorne streets. The flooding of a storm sewer lift station on Lorne Street, where the electric motors for the pumps were submerged, aggravated the problem. High tides also prevented surface runoff from draining into the Tantramar River through the aboiteaux in the dike. The Lockharts Beaver Lumber warehouse on Lorne Street sustained the most damage when it was inundated by 0.6 m to 0.9 m of water. There was much less damage to the store, situated on higher ground, as floodwaters stayed slightly below the level of the bottom shelves, allowing most of the stock to remain dry. The basement of the VIA train station was flooded to a depth of 1.5 metres, damaging the boiler, hot water heater, and sump pump. The Town's public works director estimated that at least 100 basements were flooded during the storm.

The flood was described as "the worst since the mid 1960's".