Cariboo Regional District Receiving $150,000 to Support Flood Risk Assessment, Mitigation

The Cariboo Regional District is one of 22 local and regional governments that have been approved to share more than $3 million in provincial emergency preparedness funding to support flood risk assessment, mapping, and mitigation planning.

“We just heard the news that we got the funding for the full amount of $150,000,” said Havan Surat, CRD Director of Development Services.

“So we’re excited to know that that grant could be applied and used for creating flood hazard mitigation areas within the regional district and could be used also for many purposes such as emergency planning, land use planning, and any flood risk prioritization.”

Surat said the Province has given the CRD a deadline to have the study along with a final report completed by June 2020.

“One component is that we are collaborating with our adjoining regional districts that are in the Bridge Creek area from Canim Lake to 100 Mile House within the Thompson River watershed,” he said.

“The second component of this project is looking at the entire CRD based on flood risk assessment study.”

Funding for the flood risk assessment, mapping and mitigation planning component of the Community Emergency Preparedness Fund was announced at the Union of BC Municipalities (UBCM) convention in September 2017.  The funding is part of a $33.5-million plan designed to help communities prepare for, and respond to, disasters.

CRD Manager of Communications Emily Epp said while there was some localized flooding this year and nothing as significant as previous years, the study will help them to identify the areas that are at most risk in the future.

“This is critical because we have recently seen some floods happen in the last two years within the CRD,” Surat said.

“So this is very important so that we can prioritize the risk assessments, base it on flood mitigation planning and the mapping study for the 200 year floodplain, and it gives us some kind of measures that we can take to mitigate these floods that happen and any precautionary measures that we can take in the future.”