Merritt Mayor Michael Goetz said his community welcomes funding to help it be better prepared for future flooding, but also called for additional support from the federal government.
Merritt was among 39 communities receiving $19 million for 46 projects designed to reduce the risk of disaster and adapt to climate change. It's share 鈥� $4.8 million 鈥� will go toward construction of the Voght Street Overland Water Pumping Station.
Goetz called the station a "crucial piece of infrastructure" that will help manage stormwater during extreme weather events and reduce the risk of localized flooding. While dikes prevent river water from flooding into the city, they also prevent stormwater from draining into the river. The new pump will prevent this from happening.
Goetz said the station is part of the community's multi-phased disaster protection plan. In November 2021, the entire community of 7,000 residents evacuated after water and sewer systems failed during flooding caused by the atmospheric river. Merritt's Coldwater River levels rose 2.5 times the previously predicted estimate in just a matter of hours.
Work on the pump station will begin pending engineering work. But the municipality said its flood mitigation system remains incomplete.
Merritt continues to seek additional funding, including from the federal Disaster Mitigation and Adaptation Fund. Merritt 鈥� along with Princeton and Abbotsford, two other B.C. communities heavily impacted by flooding in 2021 鈥� found out last summer that Ottawa had rejected their DMFA funding requests. Federal officials said their applications did not fit the DMFA's criteria, but also promised to work with the communities.
Ottawa this week announced changes to the Disaster Financial Assistance Arrangements program. The changes focus on funding rebuilding efforts that try to prevent repeat disasters and speeding the flow of money during recovery efforts.
B.C.'s Ministry of Emergency Management and Climate Readiness welcomed the changes, because they will now support mitigation work for non-damaged infrastructure to increase community resilience and help support recovery. But the ministry also noted that these changes will only apply to recovery from disasters that will have happened after April 1, 2025. Current recovery efforts fall under the old rules, which means that Abbotsford, Merritt, and Princeton won't be eligible.
B.C.'s Emergency Minister Kelly Greene pointed to this denial of federal flood mitigation assistance needed to help rebuild more resilient communities.
"We continue to call on the federal government to support these communities in their recovery as previously promised," she said.
-with files from Canadian Press
