It is a final push from the City of Merritt, which is urging people to apply for the provincial disaster financial assistance program ahead of tomorrow’s deadline.

Recovery Manager, Greg Solecki, is urging people who have not registered to do so at the Merritt Recovery Centre before the end of day on March 3, so they don’t miss out on any provincial recovery funding.

“Fortunately, the province extended the DFA program from February to March 3, so that has been great,” he said. “Our final push here is to try and make sure that if people haven’t filled out that DFA form yet, that they go ahead and do that, because this is the last time that they will be able to do it.”

The province says the Disaster Financial Assistance is meant to compensate for sudden, unexpected, and uninsurable losses.

Under the program, people, small businesses, farms, and charitable organizations will get 80 per cent of the amount of total eligible damage to a maximum of $300,000, less $1,000. Examples of things that are not eligible include insurance deductibles, non-essential and recreational items, land lost due to erosion, and landscaping.

“When people come and fill out the form, the province will go through their process and identify what is available for the funding and provide it back to that individual, “Solecki added. “But if they don’t fill out the form, no matter what their current status is, they will become ineligible to receive the funds.”

There is a separate DFA program for Indigenous governing bodies and local governments, also with a March 3 deadline.

Solecki says he wasn’t sure how many Merritt residents have yet to apply for this disaster financial assistance, noting there are roughly 900 people still in need of assistance almost four months after the floods.

“Whether they have all their paperwork or not. Whether they’ve been in contact with their insurance company or not. Uninsured or not. Come in and sign up for the program and then the process will get started and the follow up will occur from the province,” Solecki said.

In January, the City of Merritt said that most residents could be back home in six months.