Today, the Honourable Dominic LeBlanc, Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs, Infrastructure and Communities, and the Honourable Mike Farnworth, British Columbia's Minister of Public Safety and Solicitor General, announced more than $29.5 million in joint funding to reduce and mitigate the risk of floods and slide events in 11 communities across B.C. These projects are in addition to 18 other disaster mitigation-related projects that were announced last summer.
Among the works announced today, the second phase of the East Kootenay-Cold Spring Creek debris flood mitigation project in the Regional District of East Kootenay will continue efforts to increase water deflection and storage capacity to protect homes, businesses, and utilities from debris flow during floods. Residences in the Town of Port McNeill, an area prone to slides, will benefit from a significant increase in flood protection through the redirection of flow and stabilization of existing natural infrastructure to absorb water and buffer overflow. In Fernie, the Annex Dike Upgrades project will reconstruct approximately 1,800 metres of dike to improve erosion protection and will significantly reduce the likelihood of flood hazards to the Annex neighbourhood, including risk to critical municipal infrastructure.
Funding for flooding-prevention measures will also be provided to Peters First Nation, Regional District of Fraser Fort George, City of Trail, Town of Golden, the Village of Canal Flats, Regional District of Central Kootenay, the City of Greenwood, and K'ómoks First Nation.
The Government of Canada is investing more than $24.6 million in these 11 projects. The Government of British Columbia is contributing $4.8 million.
