The Union of British Columbia Municipalities (UBCM) has announced the communities that will receive financial support for structural flood mitigation projects.
Communities throughout the province are to receive a total of $9.5 million in provincial emergency preparedness funding for these projects, such as pump stations and dikes.
“When we released the first round of funding, I talked about how critically important these programs are to assist our most vulnerable communities,” said Mike Farnworth, B.C.’s Minister of Public Safety and Solicitor General. “The flooding we continued to see in the province this year shows this funding is more vital than ever to make sure communities are prepared.”
UBCM’s announced funding for structural flood mitigation is a component of the Community Emergency Preparedness Fund, a part of the $33.5-million plan designed to help communities prepare for, and respond to, disasters.
“Emergency preparedness is everyone’s job, and with this funding, we can help communities become more resilient,” said Jennifer Rice, Parliamentary Secretary for Emergency Preparedness. “It’s just one more way we’re helping communities lessen the impacts of emergencies and disasters.”
The first three areas of funding focused on:
- Non-structural flood mitigation, including risk assessments, flood mapping, and flood mitigation planning.
- Emergency social services, including developing the kinds of registration systems, protocols and procedures to streamline the delivery of social services to affected communities.
- Emergency operation centre equipment and supplies, such as cots, blankets and emergency social services volunteer training.
The intake for flood risk assessment, flood mapping, and flood mitigation projects closed in October 2017. The present intake deadline for structural flood mitigation projects was April 13th, 2018. These programs are in addition to federal support through the National Disaster Mitigation Program (NDMP), community initiatives to address flooding, and other provincial initiatives to mitigate the effects of flooding.
Further funding, expected in 2019, will focus on evacuation routes, including mapping and building routes out of communities that only have one road in and out of town.
