Flood damage in Savona caused by the thunderstorm on June 30. (Photo submitted)
The BC government says residents in Savona who were impacted by a flood over the Canada Day long weekend are now eligible for Disaster Financial Assistance (DFA).
It comes after the Thompson Nicola Regional District applied to the province to open up the DFA program for Savona residents, as a number of those who were flooded out later discovered that their insurance won’t cover overland flooding.
“Immediately after the event, some folks said that they had insurance. Many folks said that they didn’t have insurance. Then, some of the people that I spoke to initially said there was exclusion to some of their policy for this particular event,” said TNRD Director for the Savona area, Mike Grenier, in an interview on Tuesday with Radio NL.
The Province says through the DFA program, eligible residents and businessowners will be able to apply for up to $400,000 in funding which is meant to “make it easier for people to apply for financial support for uninsurable losses after a disaster.”
“DFA may compensate for the loss of sudden, unexpected and uninsurable items that are essential,” the Province said, in a statement. “This may include building repairs to a principal residence, replacement of essential personal effects, cleanup and debris removal.”
“DFA is available to homeowners, renters, business owners, farmers, corporation-owned properties and charitable organizations who were unable to obtain insurance to cover disaster-related losses. DFA is unable to compensate for losses for which insurance was reasonably and readily available.”
Grenier this has been his main priority, rather than trying to determine how the flash-flooding did so much damage.
“I’m sure that there’s lots of time for Ministry of Transportation and other Ministries to analyze what took place and how we can better prevent it from happening in the future.”
It’s believed at least some of the 20 homes hit by flooding were impacted by a bolted storm drain running under the TransCanada.
Three of those homes were later determined to be uninhabitable as of the most recent update.
The Province says Savona residents need to get their applications in by Oct. 14 of this year. They’ll have to apply online instead of the previous paper-based application.
Residents can call 1-888-257-4777 or go online here for more information on the DFA program or things like eligibility criteria, categories, and applications.
