Worth the risk? How Fiona fuelled fears around waterfront development on P.E.I.

Jim Randall stands on his empty waterfront lot, staring at the wooden posts that once supported his family's cottage on New London Bay, P.E.I.  

One year after a Fiona-fuelled storm surge swept his cottage away, Randall says visiting the lot still causes him "sadness and a bit of frustration."

But he's keen to show off what happened here, as a cautionary tale. 

"I'm talking about this, not for myself, but for my neighbours and other Islanders that are going to affected by the next Fiona — because another one is going to come," said Randall.

"And if we don't get our heads out of the sand and do something about this, then they're going to be the ones feeling emotional and financial loss in the future."

Randall's cottage was one of 13 in the Hebrides, a low-lying peninsula along P.E.I.'s North Shore, that disappeared the night of Sept. 23, 2022.

When Randall had his waterfront cottage built a decade ago, he knew there were flood risks. In fact, after post-tropical storm Dorian caused some water damage in 2019, he had the cottage raised about a metre off the ground. 

"We were told at the time by the contractors that this would withstand any flooding from that point on," he said. "Now, I'm not naive. We knew we were close to the waterfront. But nobody ever would think it would be as severe as it was. But that's the new reality."

Xander Wang says it's clear the post-tropical storm woke a lot of waterfront property owners up to that new reality.  

Wang's an associate professor at UPEI's School of Climate Change and Adaptation. As part of its research, the school tracks and forecasts rising water levels, coastal erosion, and the impacts of major storms like Fiona.  

Wang says in the 12 months since Fiona, the school's seen a big jump in the number of inquiries from waterfront property owners, and those looking to buy — who are wondering about the risk level, and what they can do to lower it.  

"These have become more common factors people are considering — erosion rate in your location, do you see big storm surge in this area? So I'm glad to see more people asking about that," said Wang.

"If you're going to build something, you want to make sure it's safe, at least for quite a few decades. You don't want to see it will disappear in the next decade."

Wang and his colleagues are also helping the P.E.I. government, which is working on new development guidelines for at-risk properties. Those are expected to be out "in the near future," according to a spokesperson for the province.