Flood Details - 2003-02-02 - 2003-02-03

A mid winter ice storm left trees drooping, streets flooded, and thousands without power the first weekend in February. There was flooding throughout Metro Moncton including a significant amount of water in the heart of downtown, flooding Alma and Church streets and pooling along Main. Somerset Drive and parts of Vaughan Harvey Boulevard and Wheeler Boulevard were closed. In the Caledonia Industrial Park, a roadblock was placed on MacNaughton Avenue where it crosses Humphrey Brook near Whitehill Technologies. The brook, often more than a foot deep, was said to be threatening to overflow the roadway five meters above the creek bed. In Bouctouche, there was about three feet of water flooding the street in front of the Frenchy’s store on Irving Boulevard. The RCMP had to set up a roadblock to keep motorists away. Central and northern parts of the province were battered with a mix of heavy snow and freezing rain, resulting in messy conditions but no reports of flooding. At the height of the storm, more than 60,000 NB Power customers were without power. Many waited days for it to be restored. The storm wreaked havoc with flight schedules in Moncton, and the heavy snow delayed games at the World Pond Hockey Tournament in Plaster Rock. A second weather event two days later brought more snow and freezing rain to the province, but no further flooding was reported.

Environment Canada precipitation totals for February 2nd: Miramichi: 77.9 mm Moncton: 71.7 mm Bouctouche: 61.3 mm Bathurst: 60.4 mm Saint John: 58.1 mm Woodstock: 51 mm Sussex: 50.2 mm Edmundston: 50 mm Saint-Léonard: 42 mm Fredericton: 41.5 mm

Ice and snow caused extensive damage to homes, businesses, barns and silos, and there were several livestock fatalities. Many maple sugar woodlots were also damaged, with estimated costs of over $1 million. The costs of repairing damage to electricity cables, poles and transformers was estimated at over $4 million.