Heavy rains prompt closure of Edmundston road days after reopening
Heavy rains have caused another round of travel headaches for residents of a northwestern New Brunswick city, with more wet weather on the way.
After being installed Friday evening, a temporary bridge along Route 120 in Edmundston was closed Sunday morning after a nearby embankment showed more signs of instability, said Mayor Eric Marquis.
"Unfortunately, with the rain that we had last night, there has been another slide on the embankment that is right next to where the temporary bridge is right now," Marquis said.
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"And this slide is concerning for the engineers from the Department of Transportation, so they took the decision to close down the bridge until further notice."
Downpours on June 29 caused damage to more than 100 homes in Edmundston, and washed out part of Route 120 near the intersection with Philippe Avenue.
Flash flooding in Edmundston washed out part of Route 120 on June 29. (Shane Fowler/CBC)
The washout prompted the Department of Transportation and Infrastructure to close Route 120, forcing drivers to take a detour.
Marquis said a temporary bridge was erected on Friday at 6:30 p.m., offering temporary relief for nearby residents and businesses.
With the road closed again, some residents will have to again resort to a detour of about half an hour.
However, for large trucks, that detour is even longer.
"As for bigger trucks, they have almost an hour detour that they have to do because the smaller roads can't take the weight of their load ... so they have a much longer detour that they have to do," Marquis said.
"There are hundreds of large trucks that go on ... the [Route] 120 each and every day, so having to do their detour is very problematic for them."
More heavy rain headed for N.B.
Caraquet was also hit hard by heavy rains this weekend, causing flash flooding in some parts of the town on the Acadian Peninsula.
According to Environment Canada meteorologist Jean-Marc Couturier, the coastal town received up to 100 millimetres of rainfall Saturday afternoon.
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Now more wet weather is on the way for Edmundston and western Restigouche County, along with most of central and southern New Brunswick.
Those regions are under a rainfall warning, with 40 to 70 millimetres of rain expected between Sunday evening and Monday afternoon, according to Environment Canada.
"Because of the warm and humid air mass that is in place, embedded areas of torrential rain and thunderstorms are possible," the national forecaster said.
"Similar storms in the past have caused localized flooding in poor drainage areas."
Thumbnail image courtesy of Eric Marquis via CBC News.
This article, written by Aidan Cox, was originally published by CBC News. With files from Lars Schwarz.