'We're just going to stay': As water rises, some Saint Johners stay put

Despite the City of Saint John's repeated calls for the voluntary evacuation of several areas of the city, some residents are determined to stay.

The Randolph neighbourhood in west Saint John, an island connected by a short causeway, is one of the areas where Saint John EMO  has urged residents to leave, but some residents won't hear of it.

"We had lots of food, water and everything, so we're just going to stay," said Paul Mcmanus.

"We're up high so we don't have to worry about flooding."

Asked why he was remaining in the evacuation zone, the answer was simple.

"It's our home, why not?"

Surrounded

While Mcmanus is on high ground, Herb Shewbridge isn't so lucky. His home is surrounded by water, and if he wants to leave he'll have to deal with the river first.

"We could wade out," said Shrewbridge.

"If [the water] hits the car wheels I'm going to move."

Shrewbridge has specific reasons for staying. His wife isn't in good health and the couple have an elderly dog.

They live on the top floor of the house, so they decided not to leave, although Shrewbridge said that could change.

"If it gets much worse we'll probably have to start thinking about it," he said.

"If the power goes out, I guess we'll have to get out of here."

Coming together

Luckily for the residents of Randolph, mainlanders are helping out.

Paul Melanson doesn't live on the island, but some members of his family do, and he's been helping out any way he can.

"We've probably loaded about 1,400 sandbags … we've been taxiing everybody," said Melanson.

"Anything we can do to help out."

• On mobile? Check out CBC NB's 2018 flood live blog

Melanson said spirits on the island are high, but the conditions could be better and they deteriorated quickly.

"My first day I was hauling sandbags all the way to the end and before the end of the day I couldn't get across with my truck no more," said Melanson.

He said everyone is pitching in, offering everything from manual labour to coffee and bananas for workers.

"Everybody's coming together, it's fantastic."

Silver linings

Toni Sutton was going to leave her home on the island but was persuaded not to.

"One of my neighbours was very kind to say, 'Stay, it's only going to rise another six inches, you're going to be fine,'" said Sutton.

She was able to leave the island Friday to get some groceries via a small boat.

Unfortunately, the boat was needed at an emergency so her trip back was in a vehicle she had never ridden on in her 75 years, an ATV driven by a young man. Sutton is looking forward to another ride.

"There's always a silver lining to a dark cloud," she said.

"The silver lining to this is that young man has promised me in the summer time to take me on the back trails of the island for a ride on his ATV. I am just so excited."