N.B. residents clean up after storms

New Brunswick residents are starting to rebuild after three powerful storms wreaked havoc on the province in December.

Since the flooding and storm surges, more than 1,100 people have applied for disaster assistance and the provincial government has handed out 157 payments to help people get back in their homes as quickly as possible.

It has been estimated that the storms inflicted $50 million in damage on the province.

Fred Annis and others with the Keswick Valley Volunteer Fire Department have spent the past few weeks knocking on doors in communities of  Burtts Corner, Zealand and Keswick Valley making sure people have what they need and are completing damage forms.

"A lot of people just don't understand which forms to fill out — there's a lot of forms in the book," said Annis.

The forms are mailed to those who have already registered for assistance.

So far, only 300 people have taken that second step and applied for funding.

With that deadline just weeks away, the department of public safety is urging people to get the forms filled out and contact the department if they need help.

December began with severe storm surges in northern New Brunswick. Then, in mid-December, intense rain caused extreme flooding in southern and western communities.

Access to the community of Bonny River was cut off when the roads into the village were submerged.

About 150 kilometres away from Bonny River, more than 150 homes in the Keswick Valley were damaged by floods.

Heather and Harold Betts of Zealand, a rural community northwest of Fredericton, said about two metres of water came into their basement.

The family is now trying to recover, hiring professional cleaning companies to fix the basement and sifting through their soaked belongings.

"My mother's piano had been underwater," Heather said. "That really hurt worse than anything because I couldn't replace it."

The Betts's have stripped their basement down to the frame and are waiting to put in insulation.

Getting their basement back to the way it was comes with a pricetag of about $40,000 and their home insurance doesn't cover flood damage.

Along with professional organizations, charity groups like Samaritan's Purse have been trying to help flood victims.

The Betts family received a few thousand dollars in relief assistance from the provincial government but it doesn't come close to covering the bills for rebuilding and repairing.

The cost of the flood damage has forced Harold Betts, a truck driver, to postpone his retirement, which was supposed to be six months away, to help pay the bills.

"When you work, you work hard and try to make a living for your family and then you see it destroyed," he said.

"I'll have to keep working until my health won't pass for my class one [driver's licence]."

Marie McKay's home  was flooded  when her community of Zealand in Central New Brunswick was hit by torrential rains on Dec. 13.

On Friday, volunteers were hauling out furniture and debris from her damaged home.

Workers have to wear masks because mould is beginning to set in. 

McKay is one of more than 1,100 New Brunswickers who have registered with the province for flood assistance.

Many of those people haven't taken the next step, though, and applied for flood relief.

McKay has.

She said she couldn't do it alone, because she found the forms confusing and stressful to fill out.

"I only have Grade 8 education so they helped me," said McKay.

 Rebuilding the East Coast

The cleanup after several devastating floods and storm surges is still going on in other parts of the province.

Strong winds and rain washed away metres of shoreline along New Brunswick's east coast.

The storm, which came about a week after the floods in southern and western New Brunswick, happened so quickly they caught many homeowners off guard.

In the tiny, southeastern village of Cap-Pelé some people are making major investments to prevent future erosion of their properties.

Paul Landry is building a new breakwater in front of his home to halt the force of strong waves from washing away land in the future.

With each truckload of huge boulders costing $1,400, Landry said he expects to pay more than $30,000 for the breakwater.

Landry said it's a necessary cost of protecting his property and preventing further damage in future storms.

"It's still a pretty expensive proposition, but the other proposition is to lose your land, and without the land the house is on it isn't worth much," Landry said.

"My neighbour, who already had a wall, saw some rocks move. So that gives you an indication how strong the tide was, how strong the waves were, when it can move rocks that weigh a tonne. It's not foolproof but it's going to buy us a little more time."

Douglas Burke said his company is trying to keep up with a dozen requests to build breakwaters near homes.  

"It was an increase definitely," Burke said.