Flood-Affected Communities Benefit from BC Recovery Funding

Ten BC communities severely affected by the November 2021 floods are receiving $53.6 million in provincial funding to support recovery work and get people back into their communities. Thompson Okanagan communities receiving funds are: Merritt, Princeton and Thompson-Nicola Regional District.

Due to the extreme effects of the flooding on their communities, several local governments are receiving direct grants to assist them in meeting the additional costs pressures of ongoing recovery and infrastructure planning.

This funding is in addition to more than $2.1 billion that Budget 2022 provides to help people recover from last year’s floods and wildfires, and to better protect communities against future climate disasters.

In addition to supporting intermediate temporary housing for displaced residents of Merritt and Princeton, the grants will enable all 10 local governments to:

• take care of initial flood-recovery costs not covered by other assistance programs;

• carry out initial small-scale recovery-related capital projects;

• implement planning, feasibility studies and design work to support resilient infrastructure; and

• restore infrastructure in a way that provides additional resilience to climate events.

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Merritt Raising Funds for 3D Home Printer

Following November’s catastrophic flooding events, roughly 600 Merritt residents still haven't returned to 250 homes. The City of Merritt considered a variety of different types of homes and discovered that 3D printing is cost-effective and quick.

The next step is raising roughly $700,000 to purchase a $1.3 million 3D printer. The city is hoping to find grants, charities, and donations to get half of the printer’s cost. The cost will be matched by UBC as they have all the engineering and would like to perform case studies.

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