Les and Day Tour Skeena

By 250 News

Full trees are still  being ripped from the banks of the Skeena River 

They came, the saw, but they didn't make any promise of  funding.

Provincial Minister of Public Safety John Les, and his Federal Counterpart, Stockwell Day toured the Skeena area this morning.

Some of the evacuations orders have been lifted, as folks are now allowed to head back to Braun’s Island to assess the damage, but as Provincial Minister of Public Safety John Les says it isn’t necessarily over "We need to be mindful there  is still an awful lot of snow to melt".

In fact, there is 60% of the snowpack that still has to  come down.

The two levels of government  are promising financial aid.  While Minister Les says  applications will be processed as soon as possible, the  flood situation may not be over, and Day would only say there is funding available  through programs, and  applications  can  be made "certainly the  municipality and the province can make a case for  funding" says Day.

Residents who had spent  all Thursday sandbagging  their homes,  woke Friday to see the water of the Skeena had dropped,  and the river left behind plenty of mud.

The Mayor of Terrace says once the flood season is over,  he will be heading to VIctoria "We will need to have more diking,  and  our lifeline, the Cranberry Connector  will need to be upgraded" says the Mayor. 

The situation for suplies in Terrace has improved as trucks were able to get through (via Cranberry Connector) and deliver groceries and fuel yesterday. Today, Highway 16  between Terrace and Smithers will be open, but only to heavy trucks to get supplies rolling again,  after that, the highway will be reassessed beofre a decision will be made on opening that stretch of road to the general public.

Minister Les says people can apply for assistance through PEP, (www.pep.bc.ca )  Les says the applications for funding  cover  damage from $1,000 to $300,000, he also says highways repairs will be a priority for the government "The issue for highway 16 is the issue of washouts and it will take some time  to clear that  before  road repairs can be done.  I know my colleague Kevin Falcon will be working on that as soon as possible."

There is a feeling among some in Terrace that too much  emphasis and funding was spent ensuring the lower mainland was protected, and  not enough  effort  to protect communities like Terrace and others in the north.  Minister Les says nearly a million dollars was spent in  preventive work  in Terrace,   ’I know people can feel dicombobulated when they have  gone through events such as Terrace has  gone through over the past few days,  but we have spent considerable dollars in  some areas of Terrace.  I would dare to say the near million dollars spent here saved the  Terrace sewar plant, and  reduced the impact on Queensway." 

The Minister says there will need to be further work done "Clearly we  need to deal more effectively with what seems to be a more frequent occurance."

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