Cape Breton flooding raises concerns over road, culvert maintenance

Advertisement 1 This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Breadcrumb Trail Links HomeAtlantic CanadaCape BretonNewsNova Scotia Cape Breton flooding raises concerns over road, culvert maintenance 'It’s just poor maintenance. There’s no upkeep. There’s no preventative maintenance' Author of the article: By Nicole Sullivan Published Sep 18, 2026 Last updated 1 hour ago 6 minute read Bradley MacDonald of Dundee, Richmond County looks down over the side of the pavement that was washed away when a culvert near his house flooded during the heavy rains on Sept. 5-6. While the damage from the storm was extensive, not all of the damage was from the Labour Day weekend storm and MacDonald said he has made multiple calls to the local MLA and province about problems with the culvert but nothing has been done. PHOTO BY NICOLE SULLIVAN /CAPE BRETON POST Article content Monday’s heavy rain was nothing compared to the storm that hit Cape Breton on Sept. 5-6. Article content Article content But it flooded the culvert near Bradley MacDonald’s home in Dundee, washing out gravel put in after the first storm, and he isn’t surprised that it did. Article content Article content “All the gravel they put in there, not even a week ago, all gone,” MacDonald said during a video he took during the Sept. 14 storm, which shows water flowing over Black River Road. Article content “Never cleaned the culvert. I knew this was going to happen. We didn’t get a whole lot of rain but we got enough to do this. It can’t handle the flow. All washed out again.” Article content It isn’t only the culvert near his house that MacDonald thinks is not getting the attention it should from Nova Scotia Public Works, which contributed to the severity of damage to roadways from the Labour Day weekend storm. Article content “It’s just poor maintenance. There’s no upkeep. There’s no preventative maintenance,” he said, during an interview on Sept. 7 where he showed the Cape Breton Post examples of roadwork not done or completed. Article content A washed out culvert in Dundee has the smaller metal one is inside the wooden one it replaced when fixed years ago, according to Bradley MacDonald who lives next to it. He believes the metal culvert is too small for the amount of water run-off it gets and has video showing it overflowing on Aug. 23. This is photo was taken on Sept. 7 after more damage was done from the Labour Day weekend storm. PHOTO BY NICOLE SULLIVAN /CAPE…