Work along the Coldwater River through Merritt (Image Credit: CFJC Today)

By Michael Reeve

MERRITT FLOOD RECOVERY

Even as provincial funding rolls in, Merritt still needs more than $100-million: mayor

May 6, 2022 | 11:30 AM

MERRITT, B.C. — The City of Merritt is receiving more provincial funding in the aftermath of November’s devastating floods. The province is funding flood mitigation planning projects to help them prepare for freshet 2022 and increase long-term resilience.

Merritt will be getting just shy of $330,000 to update flood-hazard mapping and develop new flood-mitigation plans.

According to Mayor Linda Brown the plan is set to be completed in June.

“We actually started looking for money for the diking plan or the flood mapping plan quite a while ago and the province was also looking for funding for us before we received funding from the Treasury Board,” said Brown. “The good news is we can now use the money from the Treasury Board for other events. It’s all just a benefit to us.”

The assessment may also be used to support applications for additional provincial or federal funding streams for disaster mitigation and climate adaptation.

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Along with $24-million announced earlier this year, Merritt is on its way toward recovery but much more funding will be needed to complete the work.

“We are still looking for a lot more funding from the Treasury Board. $24-million gets us started on some of our engineering projects and some of our housing issues. But, we have a lot more issues and the diking plan is one of them. We are still looking at $100-million plus, probably $120-150 million,” said Brown.