Minister Eddie Joyce to meet with Lark Harbour council to assess damage caused by windstorm

Dave Kearsey dkearsey@thewesternstar.com 
Published on January 7, 2017

Eddie Joyce saw first-hand the destruction caused to the town of Lark Harbour after ferocious winds swirled through the community one week ago, so he’s pleased the provincial government is willing to look at finding a way to provide some financial assistance to those affected by the damage.

Joyce, minister of Municipal Affairs and MHA for Humber-Bay of Islands, said he is committed to meeting with town officials in Lark Harbour in the near future to address the damage sustained by the town.

Joyce has already ruled out the possibility of securing financial assistance through the Disaster Relief Fund because no state of emergency was declared during the storm, but he’s going to work closely with the town in an effort to help them clean up the mess left behind.

He has encouraged residents in the town who suffered personal damage to contact their insurance carriers for direction, while he has asked the Town of Lark Harbour to do an assessment of the damage done to the breakwater and other infrastructure issues so he can discuss it when he meets with council as early as next week.

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Joyce spends a fair amount of time in the Lark Harbour area, and he knows how crazy the weather can get from time to time, but he said he doesn’t recall seeing anything as devastating as last Friday’s storm surge that blew buildings apart and tipped over fishing vessels like they were made of paper.

He knows the biggest concern for the community right now is the safety concern over extensive damage to the breakwater along the shore, and that’s something he’s going to discuss with council members when they gather around the table.

“Some of the work they did held, but a lot of the gravel that was in around it now has it all exposed, and there’s some places there that hasn’t been done. If you have another major surge or big windstorm to bring the waves up it’s going to cause a lot more damage,” he said. “We’re going to sit down to see what we can do to help with the infrastructure damage that was done.”

dkearsey@thewesternstar.com

Twitter: @WS_SportsDesk