SAINT PETER’S — Two Cape Breton counties have lifted their local states of emergency while another is keeping travel restrictions in place following widespread flooding over the weekend.

A slow-moving storm dropped more than 200 millimetres of rain on some parts of the Nova Scotia island in less than two days.

It washed out roads and culverts, damaged bridges and temporarily left some people stranded in their neighbourhoods

States of local emergency were lifted in Victoria and Inverness counties Tuesday evening.

Richmond County remains in a state of emergency which prohibits travel across the area, and schools are closed as a result.

The county says the status allows for further assessment of roads and infrastructure in the hardest-hit areas.

“Our issues today are twofold: really continuing those recovery and repair and reconstruction efforts, but also to do the last of the assessments we need to do to have confidence in the existing infrastructure,” said Lois Landry, the warden of Richmond County, said in an interview Wednesday.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 9, 2026.

The Canadian Press