Third victim of N.S. flooding identified as police continue search for missing youth

CITYnews halifax \ By Marlo Glass, The Canadian Press

HALIFAX — Nova Scotia police said Friday they would continue searching over the weekend for the last of four people swept away by a historic rainstorm, as details emerged about one of the children who died in the floodwaters.

Police confirmed Friday that one of the bodies recovered earlier this week from a flooded hayfield northwest of Halifax was that of six-year-old Colton Sisco.

An obituary describes Sisco as an animal lover who was keen on farming, and who had pet ducks and pigs at home. He especially loved his pig, Jakeson. His obituary says he loved his big brother and superheroes, especially Spider-Man, and that he had an extensive collection of superhero clothing, including pyjamas, T-shirts, blankets and toys.

“His friends were so many and he loves them all,” the obituary reads, adding that he once tried to steal his mother’s jewelry to give to his teacher.

Police have said that two vehicles were knocked off the road into the hayfield early Saturday by the sheer force of the floodwaters during a storm that dumped up to 250 millimetres of rain on parts of the province.

They are still looking for a youth under the age of 18. They said the youth was travelling with 52-year-old Nicholas Holland, whose body was recovered earlier this week. The body of six-year-old Natalie Hazel Harnish was also found this week. She and Sisco were in a pickup truck with three other people who managed to swim to safety.

RCMP Cpl. Chris Marshall said search efforts for the missing youth would continue into the weekend, and shift from the hayfield in Brooklyn, N.S., to an adjacent area and to the shoreline of a neighbouring county, where the body of one of the two children was located.

Police said they were searching the edge of the river system that flows into the Minas Basin, in the Bay of Fundy, largely by air.

More than 60 people, including first responders and volunteers, have participated every day of the search. Also involved were an RCMP police dog and air services, local search and rescue teams and firefighters, as well as the province’s departments of natural resources and public safety.

“All of the partners who’ve come together on this search are determined to recover the youth and reunite them with their family,” Marshall said in a news release.

The severe flooding damaged dozens of roads and bridges across the province, and provincial officials are still assessing the full extent of the damage.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 28, 2023.

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This story was produced with the financial assistance of the Meta and Canadian Press News Fellowship.

Marlo Glass, The Canadian Press