The Province of B.C. has announced $150,000 in funding for the City of Courtenay through the Community Emergency Preparedness Fund (CEPF).
The money will go towards a long-term mitigation strategy improving flood protection and evaluating existing dike structures along the major river systems within Courtenay’s jurisdiction. The project will also include updated flood mapping.
“The 2010 and 2014 floods caused a lot of hardship for people in Courtenay, and highlighted the need for better flood prevention and mitigation,” Courtenay-Comox MLA Ronna-Rae Leonard said in a news release. “This funding will help us reduce flood risks and keep our community safe.”
The last major Integrated Flood Management Study for Courtenay was completed in 2013. The new grant funding will help the City build on information and technical analysis from this previous work.
Courtenay is among 22 local and regional governments sharing more than $3 million in funding from the CEPF — a suite of programs designed to enhance the resiliency of local governments and their residents. The province provides the funding, which is administered by the Union of B.C. Municipalities and divided into five streams:
· flood risk assessment, flood mapping and flood mitigation planning;
· emergency support services;
· emergency operations centres and training;
· structural flood mitigation;
· evacuation routes.
Leonard said that since the September 2017 Budget Update, communities throughout B.C. have received more than $20 million through the CEPF, and that the New Democrat government is committed to ensuring communities across B.C. have the tools they need to respond to disasters when and where they happen.