Flood Victims Urged to File Claim

By 250 News

    Prince George, B.C. -  Anyone who  experienced any kind of damage from the  Nechako  River ice jam and flooding is urged to file a claim  with the  Provincial Disaster  Financial Assistance program  as soon as possible.

Although residents are not expected to have a complete picture of the  extent of damage to their property, if they  fail to  open a file before the March 11th deadline, they will be out of luck for  repair cost  reimbursement.

So far,  34 claims have been  filed with the Provincial Emergency Program, however,  Debbie Scarborough, on contract  with the City for the Recovery efforts, says there  should be more than 60 claims filed.  "Only if  Victoria has a complete list of the  properties  impacted will the Province know the extent of damage" says Scarborough.  She is expected to  visit all impacted properties this week.    

For some homeowners, it could be well into the spring before they know the full extent of damage.  Foundations can’t be properly checked until a trench  is dug around a home and that won’t happen until the  ground thaws, and there is no  telling how much damage may have been done to septic tanks, or septic  fields.

Scarborough will start  heading in to homes next week with  the  Chief Provincial Assessor and  an engineer. "We will go to the homes,  look at the damage,  walk the propertes,  and develop a personal action plan" says Scarborough.

She says the first order of business will be to see  if heat  systems can be restored to the homes. Once  heat   is restored,  the homes can "thaw" giving  the experts a better picture of the damage. 

Scarborough expects  each home to be  different "How much water  got into the home?  Was there condensation?  Does the home have a crawl space, or a full basement?  How deep was the water?   The answers to these  questions will be different for  each home, so that is why each home will need a specific action plan."

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