Prince George, BC – A dollar figure for emergency response activities in light of the recent flooding in South Fort George is not yet available…

While the City of Prince George led the response activities over the past two weeks, the city receives support and assistance from Emergency Management BC.  EMBC deploys technical experts to assess the situation, provide analysis of risk or threat, and the likelihood of success of rapid response works.  Based on their recommendations, EMBC authorizes any emergency works expenditures – things like efforts to stablize river banks or the installation of gabion diking, as was the case of Farrell Street.

With some emergency response activities still taking place over the weekend, EMBC spokesperson, Amy Lapsley, says a tally of expenditures yet be provided.

Similarly, the costs associated with supporting those forced to leave their homes is also not yet available. The evacuation orders and alerts were rescinded by the City of Prince George on Saturday. 

The Deputy Director of the City’s Evacuation Support Program, Brad Beckett, says a total of 24 people from 10 properties registered for support throughout the recent flooding events.  He points out some people chose not to leave their homes, while others were able to stay with family or friends.

Under the ESP, registrants are eligible for life essentials – food, shelter, and clothing – to a preset dollar amount.  (There are suppliers in the community that have signed onto the program and when an evacuee comes in for groceries or to rent a room for the night, the supplier then submits a form to the provincial government for reimbursement.)

Beckett says, once again, everything ran smoothly with evacuation support.  "Unfortunately, we’re gettig pretty good at this," he says.  "We’ve had so many different eveacuations and emergencies really since the icejam (in 2007) that we’ve really got all the supports in place."  The ESP was called into action last fall when a fire at the Victoria Towers forced dozens of residents to find immediate temporary, and then longer-term accomodations, but all were placed and settled before Christmas.