Kristen Villebrun and Wendy Bush hoped they wouldn't have to pray for Chedoke Creek, but four years after they first raised alarm about the water's condition, they were part of an Indigenous full moon ceremony to do just that. About 50 people showed up near Princess Point on the dark and frigid Monday evening for the monthly ceremony, which was particularly special as it focused on Chedoke Creek. The body of water that runs into Cootes Paradise had about 24 billion litres of sewage and storm water runoff leak into it due to a gate being left open.
Heavy downpours and strong winds are causing power outages and toppling trees and branches in some areas of southern New Brunswick. As of Tuesday evening, N.B. Power was reporting more than 4,000 power outages, with about half of those in the Kennebecasis Valley in southwestern New Brunswick and about 1,000 outages in the Moncton area. Roads in the Rothesay and Quispamsis area were littered with large branches, and heavy rain and hail continued to pelt the area.
Water levels along the St. John River have been dropping, despite the rain and snow that fell over the long weekend. In Gagetown, water levels are hovering around flood stage at four metres — that's down from 4.2 metres over the weekend. "There are no real impacts for people at that stage," said Geoffrey Downey, a spokesperson for New Brunswick's River Watch program. Gagetown is the only community forecast to be at or near flood stage this week. Water levels in that area are expected to drop just below flood stage by Wednesday. "It's still being stubborn," he said.
