Fraser-Nicola MLA Jackie Tegart
To truly understand how some of our communities in Fraser-Nicola continue to struggle with disaster recovery, it’s important to see the damage first-hand and hear directly from the people most affected by it. I recently welcomed several of my BC United MLA colleagues to Cache Creek to see for themselves how this process is going.
It was heartbreaking to tour some of the affected sites and see the scale of devastation caused by this year’s floods, and to hear of the challenges faced by local officials to not only repair the damage but to plan ahead to try to prevent these disasters from occurring; or at least, to limit their impacts when they do happen.
What we heard is that the impacts of floods, including the costs associated with response and recovery, get worse every year that they happen. Given the size of the community, village representatives noted the difficulties in coming up with the local funds needed, in conjunction with provincial Disaster Financial Assistance, to cover the recovery costs.
With this reality in mind, we discussed the importance of developing an integrated recovery plan to mitigate future flood impacts on this community.
The village has identified a number of areas where mitigation work is needed, and submitted this information to the provincial government. They have put a lot of time and effort into developing the appropriate studies and plans, and it’s my hope the province will respond quickly with a pledge to help.
Rural communities need support to do preventive works and protect their communities and residents. I want to thank the Village of Cache Creek for candidly sharing their challenges with our BC United team. We will be strong advocates for the village as it seeks to limit the impacts of future disasters.
