"There are too many waterfalls here; the crowded streams /
hurry too rapidly down to the sea…"
EB, "Questions of Travel"
In about two hours on Monday morning, 22 September 2014 (the
first day of autumn), the meteorologists tell us that in parts of Nova Scotia
100mm of rain fell. One of those parts was the Great Village
area. This volume of rain in such a short period of time caused the Great Village
River to burst its banks,
seriously flooding the centre of the village. A torrent of rain-swollen river water
inundated the area from Layton’s
Store to the bridge, which means that the EB House was in the centre of it all.
I did not witness the flood, but many people in the village did and I was told
that around 6:30-7:00 a.m. people noticed some water starting to cross the
road, then all of a sudden, a wall of water crashed through. Someone told me
that someone remarked, “It was the biggest tidal bore,” they’d seen in some
time. It was so bad that the bridge was closed for an hour or so. The rushing
water lifted off a large propane tank on the Wilson’s Gas Stop property. After hitting the
bridge, causing great concern, it floated down the river and out onto the
marsh. A large trailer behind the fire hall was dislodged and moved to the side
of the hall. Many photographs and videos were taken of this awesome, shocking
sight. The water crested and began to subside as quickly as it had come. As the
water drained away, the damage became more visible.
The EB House was in the direct path of this wall of
turbulent water and was surrounded. It looked dire. As the water left, what
revealed was a great deal of erosion around the foundation of the house. The
front step had been taken off and the driveway, from the road to the verandah steps, had been gouged out, along with
the shoulder of the road from the EB House to the bridge. Another peculiar
thing was that a great quantity (a ton, literally) of earth had been deposited
in the backyard of the EB House, a testament to how quickly the water ebbed:
that is, it simply dropped large rocks, gravel and mud, as though from a dump
truck.
At this point, I want to thank some people for their
incredible kindness in checking on the house as soon as it was possible:
Meredith Layton, Patti and Harold Sharpe, Deverne and Valerie Rushton. Patti
contacted me immediately and told me of the event. She sent me photos, some of which
you see in this post. They kept check on the house all day. I went to Great Village
on Tuesday morning and all these people, and more (especially Cory Spencer),
continued to be truly supportive and helpful. This is the nature of a small
community, people care about each other. I know that similar acts of kindness
went on for everyone else whose properties were in the path of this vast quantity
of water. Bless all the people of Great
Village.
I want to say clearly, in spite of the rather awful looking
driveway and yard, the Elizabeth Bishop House itself is fine. I attribute this
fact to Norman Bowers, who bought the house from Bishop’s maternal family in
1932 (after Bishop’s grandparents had died). One of the things not commonly
known about the EB House is that the basement is an amazing place. It has three-
and four-foot-thick concrete walls and floor – it looks like Fort Knox.
The northeast corner of the floor is open earth because, since it was put on
that site, the basement has taken in water from the spring runoff. The water
goes in and the water goes out. Additionally, Norman Bowers knew the historic
high water mark (the house was surrounded by water during the Great Saxby Gale
of 1866, and perhaps once or twice since then – one time in the early 1930s,
for example). Nothing has ever been stored there. The furnace is elevated
nearly to the ceiling. The well pump and hot water heater are also elevated. I
measured the high water mark from this flood: 35 inches. Extreme as that is,
the basement took it without much trouble at all. The basement walls go down
beyond the external erosion, which means, it was not compromised. The front
porch foundation is not part of the main foundation and it will require some
work (and a new step), but all in all, the house is secure.
The lovely yard, which is the most visible element, is a
mess (besides the gravel, lots of debris floated into it). The clean up of it
will begin in earnest as soon as the N.S. Department of Transportation in-fills
the shoulder of the road at the beginning of the driveway, a task which needs
to be done quickly, because as those who have stayed there know, the corner on
which the EB House sits is a busy one.
I am showing you these photos of the height of the event so
you can see something of the spectacle. Patti took more photos around the house
on Tuesday, after all the water had gone, and I will post some of them as soon
as I get them. When the yard is put back to rights, I will post more photos. We
are withdrawing the house from market temporarily, but I am writing this post
partly to state publicly that the Bishop House is fine. And to thank the
community for its caring and concern. There was damage done to other properties
and I want to express my heartfelt sympathy to those people and say that I hope
the damage is minimal, as it was at the EB House. And I want to thank Norman
Bowers, wherever he is in the spheres, for his incredible foresight and action
to ensure the EB House is on solid ground (or concrete, as the case may be).