Flooding damages could be reimbursed with provincial dollars

Residents affected by the summer floods could receive money for their damages.

In June, Lac La Biche County applied for Disaster Recovery Program (DRP) funding after the extreme flooding the hamlet experienced earlier in the month.

The flooding caused damages to residents homes, bridges, culverts, and roads and forced Lac La Biche to go into a state of local emergency.

In a media release on October 9 from Lac La Biche County, it was announced that the province approved of the funding based on how severe the damages were.

“The program provides financial assistance for disasters that cause uninsurable losses or damages. The funding will reimburse disaster response costs, and restore damaged public infrastructure related to the flooding that occurred from June 3-8, 2020.”

Lac La Biche residents are encouraged to apply for DRP if they have experienced any significant damage to their property. The application for DRP must be made prior to December 23, 2020, and instructions to apply can be found at alberta.ca.

“We’re grateful to the Government of Alberta for providing us with DRP funding after this destructive flooding incident, and we appreciated the chance to work with a variety of helpful and friendly Municipal Affairs staff on the application,” said Lac La Biche Mayor Omer Moghrabi.

“This funding will be put to good use, bringing our infrastructure back to the standard of excellence and safety that our residents expect. We also hope residents will apply for compensation if they were affected.”