The response to last week’s flash flooding in Dawson Creek cost nearly three times as much as it did in 2011, the last time a similar disaster occurred in the area, according to the City of Dawson Creek.
Between overtime for staff, equipment rentals and other costs, the city has spent $300,000 responding to floods that swept through Dawson Creek last week, chief financial officer Shelly Woolf told an emergency council meeting June 20.
The initial response to floods in 2011 cost roughly $100,000, she said.
"I'm sure this number will grow," she said. "We'll continue to compile that information and get it out to council."
Council met to approve initial recovery plans to replace walking trails, bridges and other facilities damaged after Dawson Creek burst its banks June 16.
While many were prepared for flooding, few expected the damage would be worse than similar floods in 2011.
City staff do not yet have a dollar figure for damages to municipal infrastructure.
The city ultimately spent $900,000 repair damage from the 2011 floods--around $700,000 of which was covered by municipal insurance.
Woolf said the city's finance department was developing recovery plans for each area damaged in the floods. How the city will ultimately pay for the repairs remains to be seen. Woolf said the repairs could be paid for with reserve funds, short-term borrowing or by deferring other capital spending
Council in favour of bridge
Council took the first steps towards replacing the 15th Street culverts at the June 20 meeting.
The creek crossing was destroyed after being plugged with debris--one of several culvert systems to fail during the floods.
Kevin Henderson, the city's director of development services, said city engineers recommend replacing the culverts with a bridge. The existing crossing was built after flooding in the 1990s.
"The type of structure that was in there, although it worked well since the 1990s, today's designers wouldn't recommend going back with that," he said.
Chief Administrative Officer Jim Chute said the bridge could be complete by the end of the construction season in October if council acts soon.
Council passed on installing a temporary bridge, which would have cost around $300,000. Henderson said the price tag for the new bridge would likely be just shy of $2 million.
'Unmet needs' committee aims to keep flood victims from falling through the cracks
City officials are also creating an "Unmet Needs" Committee to help coordinate recovery response.
Fire Chief Gordon "Shorty" Smith said the committee will include members of non-governmental organizations, and will aim to identify people left out of existing flood recovery programs.
That could include renters, as well as people who do not qualify for flood insurance.
Fire crews assisted 98 people during the floods and have received reports of damage to 110 homes.
Fire officials planned to establish a "resiliency" centre in the Calvin Kruk Centre to help people with Disaster Financial Assistance program funding.
That centre would also help identify ways the system is failing, he said.
"People who are caught between a rock and a hard place and don't know which way to go can go to the resiliency centre and get help with that--with paper work, directions, people to contact," Smith said.
As for the Unmet Needs Committee: "there are going to be some people who fall through the cracks, somehow, somewhere," he said. "That Unmet Needs Committee will reach out to other organizations to help those people who do fall through the cracks."
