'It's not coming down:' relentless river overruns homes, cottages

You mightcall it the flood stages of grief.

Saint John-area residents are running the gamut of denial, anger, bargaining,depression and acceptance as they assess flood damage and prepare for more to come.

• EMO encourages more home evacuations as St. John River flooding worsens
• GrandBay-Westfieldresidents scramble to deal with rising floodwaters

The provincial EMO advised in a flood update for regions along the St. John River on Wednesday afternoon that"the worst is not behind us."

Water levels along the riverare at 5.1 metres and expected to rise to at least 5.8 metres over the next three days which would exceed the 2008 flood by over a metre.

Some areas of the lower river system could be inundated with the mostsevere flooding since 1973.

Oak Point underwater

The Kiwanis campground at Oak Point was largely submerged on Wednesday, withwater flooding outbuildings, campsites andthe main road going down to the lighthouse.

"In the summer there would be a road [here], a bank going down to a field, and tentsites," saidPam Creamer of Martinon, a long time seasonal resident of Oak Point, who drove up on Wednesday afternoon to check on her family's RV site.

It was almostunrecognizable.

"Over to the right there's a rec hall, and that's flooded right now too. There's a field over there. Right now everything is flooded."

"That's our deck that is floating out there in the water," she said. "In 2008 [during the flooding], the picnic gazebo out there, you could only see the top ridge of itso it's as bad as 2008."

Still, Creamer said, she's hoping to make it back by the May long weekend, when she anticipates the water will have fully receded.

The water levels at Oak Point are expected to rise steadily from 5.44 metres on Wednesday up to a peak of 6.2 metres on Saturday before starting to recede early next week.

'It's not gonna be any better'

Cars were the least-popular mode of transportation in the Dominion Park area of Saint John on Wednesday afternoon.

Bikes or preferably small boats offered a better chance of getting through the barricades. Homes on TippettDrive, a hill that overlooks the popular Dominion Park Beach, werecut off by increasingly deep water.

Hart Eichmann, who has lived in the area on and off since 1957, walked his bike over his neighbour's lawns to scout out what was happening in the rest of theneighbourhood.

"Bike is an easy way to get around," he said. "The bridge at the end ofGreenheadRoad, it's getting hard to get over there, and to get to the top of the hill [TippettDrive]is almost impossible."

He said even video doesn't do the scope of the floodingjustice.

"People are calling, asking if we're OK," Eichmann said."I'm trying to explain it to my friends who are away, and I don't know how to describe it. We're on a peninsula. We're surrounded by water. All the low spots are flooded.

"It just keeps coming up. The forecast by Saturday is another 1.6 metres. It's not gonna be any better."

Concerns for elderly, those with disabilities

While the flooding isinconvenientfor those who can get around by bicycle or on foot, it's evenmore serious for people with mobility issues, said Shirley Lacey, who lives on the hill overlooking the beach.

"I wouldn't be able to make it through with my car," said Lacey, who made sure Tuesday that her vehicle was parked well up the road.

"I just got through," she said. "I'm not going to try and get back through here."

She's concerned about one of her neighbours, who uses a wheelchair.

"It's [the] caretakers that do the stuff for her," she said."I don't know if they're going to get out, either. It's getting a lot deeper than what it was yesterday."

Anyone who wishes to evacuate their home, is asked to call 1-800-863-6582 and register with the Red Cross, who canhelp with accommodations if necessary.

A little help from friends

Just a few metres from Ryan Whalen'shome in Milford, the St. John River was bubbling up through the manholes,covering the Green Head Road in shallow water.

High tide wasn't for another few hours, and there was no telling how high the water wouldbe then.

On Wednesday, Whalen took a break from the arduous, trial-and-error sandbagging processwith his uncle, GillesArsenault, andfriendJerrySaunders.

Whalen has lived here for 12 years. Like almost everyone in flood-prone areas of the province, he said the last time he saw the water this high was in 2008.

The past few days, he said, have been an exercise in frustration.

"Building sandbag walls, filling sandbags, taking sandbag walls down, hiring excavators and dump trucks to bring fill and spread it around to build the wall bigger, then put sandbags on top of that again," he said.

It's all been a learning experience, he said.

"With 50-pound bags, you make the mistakes once," he said. "And think about it harder the next time."

At least some of their immediate needs have been covered.

"The neighbours stopped by to see if we need anydoughnutsand coffee," he said.

100 homes evacuated

As of Wednesday afternoon, the Red Cross said it had assisted in the evacuation of 100 homes a total of 260 people provincewide.

As of noon, water over the road had cut off about 66 homes between the Gault Road and Grenville Lane, a 1.4-kilometrestretch along the Westfield Road.

The Saint John EMO has asked residents in Randolphpast the Randolph Bridge, from South Bay to Morna, on Ragged Point Road past the St-Francois-de-Sales Church, on Beach Road, and in any isolated areas along the St. John River to leave their homes.