York Harbour councillor springs into action to help during this week's heavy rain, says roads are hazardous

    Friday, 20 March 2026 06:00

    By Tonya Organ

    Kyle Burry says the water was going across the road so he opened the hole more to let the water flow, then discovered the culvert was plugged so he freed the debris. 

    A community on the south shore of the Bay of Islands also had flooding to deal with on Tuesday. It was in an area by the rock cages on Route 450. Kyle Burry has been a councillor in the community of York Harbour for only six months now but sprang into action that day grabbing his chest waders and shovel. The water was going across the road so he opened the hole more to let the water flow, then discovered the culvert was plugged so he freed the debris. 

    Burry says he didn’t do this because he is on council, it’s in his nature to help. He says he didn’t want the town to be blocked off and they are a close knit community and council making sure residents are safe and taken care of. 

    Meanwhile, Burry says roads in the area are in very poor condition with multiple potholes and shoulder sections have been totally washed out in many areas. He says there are undersized culverts in several locations where there are known issues and should have been addressed long before now. 

    Burry says while the Department of Transportation has completed ditching work in areas with residents' homes, there hasn’t been any work along the mountain side which continues to cause erosion making it a hazard waiting to happen. 

     

     

     

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