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The evacuees didn't want to go and had to be chivvied onto the barge.

They were given no choice, though, and were herded one by one onto the craft before it cast off for the trip up the flooding Saint John River.

The barge was their bridge to safety, but these cows clearly weren't happy to be aboard and lowed piteously as they left the shrinking piece of dry land their home had become.

The operation late Friday was prompted by the plight of a herd of about 150 dairy cattle in desperate need of milking on a farm in Sheffield, southeast of Fredericton. It was an unusual rescue, but a request the military turned to its advantage.

Lieutenant Robert Fleet, with 4 Engineer Support Regiment in Gagetown, said the operation dovetailed neatly with training they would have otherwise done. Soldiers built a three-section floating bridge that could be used as a barge, once the holes in the deck were plugged with sandbags, and propelled it with military tugboats.

“We've never done it before, it's not part of our standard operating procedure,” Lt. Fleet acknowledged as the first load of 46 cows was being fetched. “The farmer said they'll be scared enough that they won't move much, but probably some cleanup [will be needed] afterward.”

The rescue was one of many conducted over the past few days southeast of Fredericton. Along with nearby Maugerville and Jemseg, Sheffield was among the hardest hit by the near-record flooding this year and many people who had been determined to stay in their homes ultimately realized they had to leave.

The water dropped slightly in the capital Friday, but was still rising downstream, to the southeast.

“Water levels are still going up and that trend is going to continue for the next few days,” warned Andy Morton, deputy director of the province's Emergency Measures Organization.

That has led to fears that rising water could force the RCMP to close the Trans-Canada Highway between Fredericton and Moncton.

Sergeant Derek Strong stressed that this was “only a possibility.” But he warned that the force is monitoring the situation on a “minute-by-minute” basis and that the water could breach the road as early as this morning.

There are only two places where the danger is imminent, he said early Friday afternoon, but police would have to close a long enough stretch of the highway to ensure that vehicles were routed onto an alternate route with sufficient capacity.

“You can imagine the volume of traffic,” Sgt. Strong said. The alternate route would take travellers to Moncton by way of Saint John, adding considerably to the drive.

The beleaguered area downstream from the capital was also the focus Friday of a visit by Prime Minister Stephen Harper and New Brunswick Premier Shawn Graham.

“There's been good anticipation of this. The province and various agencies have been on top of it,” Mr. Harper told reporters. “We'll get through this and then we'll get into all the business of the federal Emergency Act and disaster relief, but that's in the week to come.”

He did not offer any specifics of the coming aid package. In a news conference earlier, Mr. Graham said the relief would be funded jointly by the province and the federal government.

No estimates of the scale of damage have yet been made, but the flood is expected to be costly. Thousands of homes were at risk as the Saint John burst its banks in numerous places. Hundreds of people registered with the Canadian Red Cross and an unknown number fled to higher ground.

Mr. Harper got an aerial view of the damage to Maugerville from a military helicopter Friday afternoon and met with rescue workers in nearby Burton before flying north to meet with evacuated families in Edmundston.

The worst of the flooding is now thought to be over, but emergency workers are hesitant to say when things will be back to normal. It could take weeks, they warn.

“If we move back and conditions change, we may find ourselves redoing the evacuation,” said Dick Isabelle, executive director of police, fire and emergency services for the provincial Department of Public Safety.