Challenges continue
Provincial, municipal officials to meet on flood relief
The mayor of the Cape Breton Regional Municipality came away from a meeting with a provincial minister with a promise for an additional meeting to provide an “official debrief” on flood assistance.
Mayor Cecil Clarke, chief financial office Marie Walsh and CBRM economic development manager John Phalen met with Municipal Affairs Minister Zach Churchill, who is responsible for disaster relief, in Halifax Wednesday on a handful of topics, with the flood aftermath topping the agenda.
On Oct. 10, upwards of 220 millimetres of rain fell on parts of the region within 12 hours, besting the previous record rainfall by 60 per cent, and causing widespread flooding and damage to private and public property. The area hardest hit by the flooding, the south end of Sydney, saw almost 20 homes deemed uninhabitable.
Clarke said in an interview Thursday that the next meeting, which is to include officials from the United Way of Cape Breton, will be held to go over any outstanding items and to clarify requests made to the disaster financial assistance program that may have been rejected.
“A meeting is being set up for next week,” Clarke said, “We’ll be following up with our officials from the CBRM since we’ve been part of that process.”
Lynne McCarron, executive director with the United Way of Cape Breton, said Thursday to date about half of the applications made under the Disaster Financial Assistance Arrangements program have been processed and she has tallied about $700,000 in declined claims. Included in that are some amounts that may ultimately be covered by insurance, she said.
The province contributed $500,000 initially toward assisting with the immediate needs of affected residents, with the CBRM adding $25,000. More than $100,000 in private donations was received. The initial money provided by the province and CBRM and most of the fundraised moneys have been distributed to assist with flood-related losses.
“Before I spend that last little bit of fundraised money I want to make sure I’ve prioritized … so that the most dire needs get addressed the most immediately,” McCarron said.
She added she knows of people still living with plastic on their roofs and mould in their homes.
“There’s a lot of significant challenges out there,” McCarron said. “Some have been able to wait patiently while their stuff is on their credit card, but others haven’t been.”
While the delays in the process are likely extremely frustrating for affected homeowners, McCarron said it is a complicated process to navigate with slow processing of claims not solely due to government, noting there are other factors at play such as insurance.
She said she was “optimistic” to learn that there will be a meeting.
Clarke said there are a number of other areas where those who have been forced out of their homes due to flood damage are encountering unforeseen costs, such as deed transfer tax, and he intends to raise those issues.
“While they’re case-by-case, we’re going to compile them all and show what these extra pressures are on individuals who have had to relocate,” he said.