via Facebook
An abandoned fish sauce plant in the town of St. Mary’s took a beating from strong winds, and now the Mayor warns the community is on the “edge of a disaster.”
High winds last night blew the side completely off the building, and nearby residents have been warned that the structure is now unsafe, and they may have to evacuate.
Winds are expected to turn around and gust to 70 km/h on Sunday before picking up to near 100 km/h on Monday.
via Facebook
Mayor Steve Ryan says the abandoned plant is full of vats of rotting fish sauce, and says the effort to cleanup has gone on too long.
“If this (wind) goes the wrong way, this is into the ocean and we’re in serious trouble here now,” he told VOCM News Saturday.
“I think the federal government should step in a bit too and help out here. This should not be just on the province. The federal government is responsible for most of that. What we’re doing on the beach from funding to licensing to shutting them down.”
Steve Ryan, Mayor of St. Mary’s joins VOCM’s Zack Power to talk about the damage done to the building:
https://media-cdn.socastsrm.com/wordpress/wp-content/blogs.dir/900/files/2026/01/steve-ryan-full.wav
A tender was supposed to go out later this month to cleanup the site.
Ryan says that many residents are hoping this spurs a quicker cleanup.
“The residents near the building, I’m after talking to them, the more we may have to evacuate those residents because if the wind changes the other way and the structure lifts off, which I think it will, we don’t want nobody harmed.”