Flooding routinely costs Canadians more than any other natural disaster in terms of property damage. Costs have skyrocketed in recent years. Average insured losses across the country from water-related severe weather events, which include flooding, were $143 million per year between 1983 and 2008, according to the Insurance Bureau of Canada. Since 2009 the annual average has increased to $595 million, which doesn’t account for uninsured losses.

Pomeroy said he would like to see Canada put more resources into flood forecasting and prediction by creating a federal flood forecasting system. Currently flood forecasting is done by the provinces. “We’re the only G7 country without a national flood model,” he said, adding that we could “tremendously reduce” the damage from floods with more sophisticated forecasting.

Although the water levels for this year’s flood in New Brunswick were nearly as high as last year, residents were more prepared thanks to earlier warnings and the still-fresh memories of last year’s havoc. But being ready for the flood didn’t stop it from coming.

Figures have not been released on the extent of property damage this year, but at least 1,425 people voluntarily evacuated, according to the New Brunswick Red Cross. The floods also forced dozens of road closures, including a section of the Trans-Canada Highway, which was closed for more than a week.

New Brunswick Premier Blaine Higgs said during this year’s flood that his province must adapt because “the flooding is going to keep happening.” He has talked about trying to get people out of flood zones and mused about building a spillway in Saint John to mitigate what he called the “Reversing Falls pinch,” where the river is forced through its narrowest passage before flowing into the Bay of Fundy.



“The (question) is how quickly has (climate change) ramped up based on human activity and how quickly has it ramped up based on global change.” —Blaine Higgs, New Brunswick premier

But Higgs, whose government has only been in power since November, has been criticized for his lack of urgency and action on dealing with the root causes of climate change. He is part of the coalition of conservative premiers opposing the federal carbon tax, and in a recent exchange in Question Period he seemed to cast doubt on the scientific consensus that human activity is the driver of climate change. “We’ve seen a climate change activity that has ramped up in the last number of years. I don’t think anyone is going to deny that,” he said in response to an opposition question asking if he believed there was a climate emergency. “The (question) is how quickly has that ramped up based on human activity and how quickly has it ramped up based on global change.”

Higgs’ office did not respond to questions from the Star asking him to clarify what he meant by “global change.”

Higgs adopted the climate change action plan produced by the previous Liberal government under Brian Gallant, and his office says the government continues to work toward implementing that plan. New Brunswick has reduced its emissions by 28 per cent since 2005, largely due to the closing of outdated coal and oil-fired power plants and restructuring in the forestry sector. The province said it’s on track to meet its goal of a 30-per-cent reduction by 2030.

David Coon, New Brunswick’s Green Party leader, said Higgs has focused more on fighting the carbon tax than on fighting climate change, but he hopes the severity of recent floods will inspire more action. “We’ve squandered a lot of time and now we’re suffering the consequences.”

It was still early days in this year’s flood when Greg MacCallum, the director of New Brunswick’s Emergency Measures Organization, issued a stern warning. If you’re thinking of evacuating, he said, you probably should. “This is the time.”

Bruce and Marian Langhus were already comfortably settled into the Days Inn hotel in Oromocto, home to many flood refugees this year. The Langhuses, both retired geologists, moved into the hotel a couple of days before MacCallum’s warning, when the water rose uncomfortably high at their riverfront home and business, The Lang House Bed & Breakfast, in the village of Gagetown, about 40 km downriver from Maugerville.

Like Markus Harvey, the Langhuses are trying to live with the flood. They bought their 139-year-old house in 2015 as part of their retirement plans and didn’t want those plans derailed by a little water. Or a lot of water, as was the case last year when more than a foot filled their main floor. When the water receded, the whole floor had to be gutted and redone. But they figured it would be foolish to simply rebuild what they had before.

“We both had the feeling that last year was the new normal,” Bruce says over coffee at the Days Inn. “We knew it was going to happen again.”