Hurricane Juan and Our Parks

As most people in Nova Scotia, I fell asleep late that Sunday night in September 2003 not really understanding the full effect the night would have on our province. We had been watching the live news coverage of the hurricane approaching when we lost power. We had been expecting this, our apartment faced the harbour and the Halifax city lights had been going on and off for the last hour or so as the storm reached the city. So we lit some candles and broke out the playing cards before heading to bed.

When we awoke Monday morning, we were shocked to still be without power (not realizing the intensity of the storm and what had taken place over night). I ventured out onto our deck and looked onto the now calm harbour waters. The city seemed early quiet, no hustle and bustle… no cars going across the MacDonald Bridge or the Mackay Bridge (as I later found out with my binoculars), just the fait sound of chainsaws.

Unlike some city residents we stayed bunkered in our apartment, listening to the radio for the latest updates. Looking back on it now, it’s something I regret a bit, we stayed there so we wouldn’t be in the way of any clean-up efforts. But as a photographer it is really something I wish now that I had more photos of, but I was also unprepared, I only had one roll of film left for my camera at the time.

Once we did venture out we were astonished at what we saw. Trees, power lines, telephone poles, shingles, siding, signs, etc… were just laying, hanging, and even some were just missing.

I would have to say the fallen trees, to me and many other city residents were and still are some of the most devastating sites/results of Hurricane Juan. Halifax has long been known as “the city of trees” and Hurricane Juan did it’s best to change that.

Parks and trails throughout Halifax and the province had been hit hard, fallen trees blocked trail access, rain and waves completely washed away sections of trails and in some cases over 70% (thousands of trees) had been fallen, specifically in one of the city’s greatest features, Point Pleasant Park.

Many parks remain closed here in the spring of 2004, as cleanup efforts continue, and when they are eventually re-opened they, for the most part, will not be the same parks we once knew.

But all is not lost. Yes, the re-opened parks will have fewer trees, and yes, some may be closed for longer then we like, but these parks have not always been the way we remember them. Trees grow and die and new trees grow again. Landscaping shapes and forms the trails and the scenery around them. The trees will grow back given time and once the trails are fixed up the parks will still be used as much as they ever were.

It may take a few generations to get some of the old big trees back in our parks and they will never look the way we remember them, but for now we’ll have to learn to enjoy the panoramic views of the mouth of Halifax Harbour from the top of the barren hills and trails of Point Pleasant Park and others.

Checkout the Hurricane Juan Photo Gallery, and you can also leave your own comments about the hurricane.