A man walks past cars abandoned in floodwater in a mall parking lot following a major rain event in Halifax on Saturday, July 22, 2023. Nova Scotia RCMP are expected to give an update on the search for a youth who went missing when four people were swept away by rushing floodwater following a historic storm July 22. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darren Calabrese
WINDSOR, N.S. – Nova Scotia RCMP said Monday they suspended their search for a youth who was among four people swept away on July 22 by rushing floodwaters following a torrential downpour.
Police will resume the operation to find the youth once the remaining water in the search area northwest of Halifax is able to drain, they said. Supt. Sean Auld told reporters in Windsor, N.S., that search teams encountered pockets of water over the weekend up to three metres deep.
“These pockets of water have low visibility and unpredictable terrain,” Auld said, adding that they were too dangerous for search teams.
RCMP have said two vehicles were knocked off the road into a hayfield in Brooklyn, N.S., by rapidly rising water during a storm that dumped up to 250 millimetres of rain on parts of the province. Last week, searchers recovered the bodies of two six-year-old children – identified as Natalie Hazel Harnish and Colton Sisco – and 52-year-old Nicholas Holland, who was travelling with the missing youth.
The search shifted Friday from the hayfield to an area beside it, which Auld said is now 85 per cent drained and searched. The Mounties had said that crews using industrial pumps had drained a “lake’s worth” of water from the hayfield.
“When the water recedes from these deep pockets the search will continue in those areas,” Auld said Monday.
Police said a search of the shoreline in a neighbouring county was concluded on Sunday.Auld said searchers had so far covered more than 200 hectares of ground and 104 square kilometres of watershed and tidal waters. As well, 417 kilometres of shoreline were searched by air.
“The goal remains to bring home the missing youth to their family,” he said.
The severe flooding from a series of thunderstorms damaged dozens of roads and bridges across the province. Provincial officials are still assessing the full extent of the damage.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 31, 2023.
